TEN Y EAR S 



A.T 



PEMAQUID 



SKETCHES OF ITS HISTORY 

AND 

ITS RUINS 

BY J. HENRY CARTLAND 



The restless sea resounds along the shore, 

The light land breeze flows outward with a sigh, 
And each to each seems chanting evermore 

A mournful memory of the days gone by: 
All underneath these tufted mounds of grass 

Lies many a relic, many a storied stone, 
And pale ghosts rise as lingering footsteps pass 

The ruined fort with tangled vines o'ergrown. 

— Mrs. M. W, Hackelton 



PEMAQUID BEACH, MAINE 
1899 



Copyrighted 1899. 
all rights reserved.^ ^ 

COPIES RECEIVED. 



TWO 




f\RST 



CO^'*' 






r: _ ., 



-^fy 



a. 



TO THE CHILDREN OF MAINE, 

MY NATIVE STATE. 

THE AUTHOR 

INSCRIBES THIS BOOK. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Many an ancient spot, rendered dear by tradition and sacred 
associations, is disguised by a modern aspect. But though time 
brushes away the old landmarks and the once familiar scenes disap- 
pear, the halo cast by memory remains, and the locality lives in our 
hearts and thoughts as it was before the change. 

Eev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage. 

Many people visit Old Pemaquid every year who have once 
claimed it as their home, but have been obliged to seek employ- 
ment elsewhere. They cherish fond memories of happy days 
passed here. Few visit this place who do not wish to come 
again to enjoy its attractive natural scenery and try to fathom 
the hidden mysteries of its past. 

After one year of research here I thought it would be an 
easy task to write a history of Pemaquid. To-day after ten 
years of investigation I have changed my mind. It is not from 
lack of interesting material, but it has been difficult to select 
the most interesting facts and put them in the most attractive 
form. I am especially indebted to Rev. H. O. Thayer of Port- 
land, Maine, for valuable aid in compiling this work and for 
translations of important French documents. From Prof. John 
Johnston's History of Bristol and Bremen, which has been very 
freely quoted in this work, I have obtained more information 
than from any other single volume. Others, too numerous to 
mention, have contributed a sketch, a poem, a story, or bits of 
history, — to all of whom I tender my hearty thanks. 

Because I love good children I have dedicated this work to 
them. Cruel fate has deprived me of my own for years, but 
many others have been my constant companions and true 
friends. The bright spots and much of the sunshine of my life- 
time I owe to them. Scattered along the way from Maine to 
North Carolina I have found many kind friends who always 
greet me with a hearty welcome. Each springtime for years 
past, I have visited the "sunny Southland," where with my 
brother's children and their schoolmates we have roamed the 
fields and climbed the hills, and the steep sides of Old Pilot 



VI 

Mountain of the Old North State to get a bird's-eye view of the 
lovely scenery near the Blue Ridge Mountains. There we have 
gathered flowers to send back to children of the old Pine Tree 
State, before the ice and snow had released theirs from their 
frozen beds. From beneath the stones in the babbling brook, 
hundreds of miles west from the ocean, we have hunted out the 
fresh water lobster, and beneath the arc light on the city streets 
the rare electric light bug, and upon the stately oaks and other 
tall trees, that singular parasite the mistletoe, beneath which 
every English lassie delights to stand on certain occasions. 
These with other curiosities of one section of our country have 
been gathered to amuse and instruct those here who have not 
the privilege of going there to see them. On the Berkshire hills 
of western Massachusetts at Beulah Land we have ridden and 
gathered rare wild flowers, hooked the bright spotted trout from 
the clear cold streams that tumble down the water courses there, 
then cooked and eaten them with a hearty relish. 

Here at old Pemaquid, barefoot urchins with bright eyes 
and nimble feet have followed the plough over the soil as it 
uncovered the stone pavings of former streets, and gathered 
from the fields relics of former days, and brought me to add to 
our collection. Some have gathered from our rugged shores and 
beautiful white sand beaches, rare shells, ribbon or lucky stones, 
and other odd pebbles to add to our mineral collection, and like- 
wise New England sponge, dollar fish, razor clams, spider and 
horseshoe crabs, tiny lobsters, with many other natural curiosi- 
ties. Their week-day and Sabbath-school exercises interest me, 
as also their evening songs and dances, boat rowing, sailing and 
bicycle riding. In all their innocent amusements I love to 
watch and mingle with them and forget dull care. 

Thus while I have been gathering material for this imper- 
fect book I have remembered the children and youth and labored 
to gather substantial and useful relics and curiosities, many of 
which have been their contributions, hoping sometime to have a 
suitable building erected here where all can be on exhibition for 
the benefit of those who wish to examine them. Such an ex- 
hibit I hope sometime to have, properly arranged. It would 
perhaps be more useful to teach by object lessons than by print- 
ed books. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 



XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 



XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 
XXXI. 



Part 1. PAGE 

Location of Pemaquid 1 

Description of Pemaquid 5 

Date of Settlement 18 

Early History — Weymouth's Voyage 21 

Visit of the Popham Colonists 30 

The Notable Capt. John Smith 34 

Early Traffic and Fishery — Eelations with the 

Pilgrims 37 

Land Purchased — Somerset's Deed of Pemaquid.. 44 

Noted Indians 50 

The Pemaquid Patent 55 

Wreck of The Angel Gabriel 57 

English and French Rival Claims — La Tour and 

D'Aulney 62 

The Duke of York's Government 68 

Part IL 

Relics 78 

Old Fort Rock and House — Anecdotes 81 

Old Cellars 92 

Ancient Pavements 95 

The Old Cache 104 

Blacksmith Shops 109 

Pipe Factories Ill 

Traces of Shipbuilding 114 

An Old Wharf 118 

A Shipyard 123 

The Cemetery 126 

Field Days of Maine Historical Society 134 

Part MI. 

Fortifications — The First Fort 140 

Fort Charles — Its Capture — Thomas Gyles 143 

Fort William Henry — Besieged and Taken by 

French and Indians 156 

Re-settlement after Treaty of Utrecht — Fort 

Frederic 176 

Naval Engagement — The Enterprise and Boxer... 183 

The Pemaquid Improvement Association 186 




O g 

CD 4) 



C 



O o 



PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

Location of Pemaquid — Once the most noted locality on the New 
England coast — Pemaquid as known to-day — Boundary lines 
of Pemaquid and Bristol — Change in the manner and routes 
of travel since Pemaquid was first settled — Neglect of its an- 
tique remains by its own people — Interesting peninsulas and 
islands extending out from the southern shores of Pemaquid — 
Boundary lines of ancient Pemaquid — Tide of summer trav- 
el turning this way — A good retreat from the cares and 
turmoil of city life — Visited by historians and antiquarians — 
How to reach Pemaquid — Its steamboat landings — Hotels 
and other places of interest. 

HLTHOUGH once the most noted locality by for of all 
New England, to-day comparatively few people 
know anything of Pemaquid, its location, its topography or 
formation, or its history. 

Pemaquid as known to-day embraces two of the three 
natural divisions of the southern part of the town of Bristol 
in Lincoln County, Maine. Bristol is bounded on the 
west by the Damariscotta River, on the north by the 
town of that name, and Bremen, once a part of Bristol, on 
the east and south by Broad Sound, the ocean and John's 
Bay. John's River on the west and Pemaquid River on 
the east divide the lower section into three parts consisting 
of hio-h ridges of land, which lie between them. 

Bristol is supposed to have derived its name from a 
noted city of that name in England, whose leading mer- 
chants were among the first to manifest a deep interest in 



2 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

American discovery, and subscribed a thousand pounds to 
fit out an expedition in 1603 to explore and trade on 
the New England coast. It was once on the high- 
way of travel, when sailing vessels necessarily visited land 
often for fresh supplies of fuel and water. Now larger and 
swifter ships propelled by steam, race across the Atlantic 
Ocean in less days than it then took weeks, and the 
passing immigrant or traveler is rushed on to the more 
southern and western parts of our country, leaving the 
varied attractions of our state unseen, and by many un- 
known. 

As the great lines of ships pass us on the one side, so 
the lines of railroad transport their passengers upon the 
other, leaving Old Pemaquid neglected while its inhabitants 
seek a livelihood on the \evy site of its ruins, former paved 
streets, and fortifications. All along the sea coast which 
bounds the southern shore of Maine, are many points, or 
peninsulas varying in length and height, and islands, 
which are all caused by nature's upheaval of mineral forma- 
tion, the unbroken parts forming its peninsulas, and those 
rising out of the ocean at their southern extremities, the 
beautiful islands for which this coast has been noted since 
its first discovery by the white man. These divisions of 
land have been compared to the fingers of one's hand be- 
tween which, flow bays and rivers of salt and fresh water. 
Across the head waters of the bays in this section, to save 
expensive bridging, the railroad extends direct from Bath 
to Kockland, thus spanning the territory of Pemaquid, east 
and west, and which — bounded by the Kennebec and Penob- 
scot, as I understand — was claimed formerly by both 
the Indians and the English. On the south it was 
bounded by the uneven sea, on the north or- land side 
indefinitely. Not a pound of railroad iron has ever been 



TEN YEAES AT PEMAQUID. 3 

laid in Bristol to bring travel to our shores, the whistle of 
the locomotive or the rattle of the electric car never 
startled our deer or other wild game, and the telephone has 
never stretched out its hand to greet us till this year, 1898. 
Teams and stages convey the mail, goods, and people by 
land, and sailing vessels and small steamers by water, as in 
ancient times. 

Within the last decade the tide of travel to some ex- 
tent has turned back " down east" and many people come 
this way where for generations past they have had the 
reputation of " prying up the sun in the morning." Port- 
land, with its noted isles of Casco Bay ; Fort Popham, 
Boothbay, Squirrel and Heron Islands, Christmas Cove, 
South Bristol and Pemaquid and so on to Bar Harbor ; and 
beyond are resorts on our shores now eagerly sought, by 
increasing thousands every year. Historians and lovers of 
the antique, seek Pemaquid, where they find besides many 
attractions of other resorts, a locality rich in past history, 
as well as much mystery, which yet puzzles, while it inter- 
ests the antiquarian. No naturalist has yet solved the 
mystery of the great oyster shell mounds of Ancient Pema- 
quid on the Damariscotta River, or historian, of the excel- 
lent pavings found at three different localities on both 
banks of the Pemaquid River ; thousands of other relics are 
objects of interest to the traveler. 



HOW TO REACH PEMAQUID. 

There are three lines of steamers touching at Pema- 
quid. First, the steamer Enterprise, Capt. Alfred Race, 
which has run here weekly from Portland, since 1887. 
Second, the steamer Merryconeag, Capt. I. E. Archibald, 
sails between Portland and Rockland, going down one day 



4 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

and returning the next, reaching Pemaquid stations about 
noon on her way. The third line, the Eastern Steamboat 
Co. makes connection with Boston, by way of Bath daily, 
during the summer time. 

There are are two steamers' landings at Pemaquid, the 
first is called Pemaquid Beach ; the second Pemaquid 
Harbor, which lies across the river, on the west side. 
Passengers for the Penny Cottages, Edgemere Hotel, Bay- 
view House, Lookout Cottage and Pemaquid Falls, land 
at the latter. Those passengers wishing to reach Long 
Cove, New Harbor, Pemaquid Point, the Beach or Jameson 
Hotel, near the landing, leave at the first station where car- 
riages are found j'eady to convey them to their respective 
destinations. 

The landing called Pemaquid Beach is near the ruins 
of the Old Fort, marked by the Old Fort Rock of Pemaquid 
with date of 1607 upon it. The Old Fort House, its beau- 
tiful peninsula, with its "field of graves," the site of the 
ancient capital of Pemaquid with its paved streets, which 
have been buried for centuries and only discovered by 
accident. Here is the great white sand beach with its con- 
tinued "music of the sea;" also smaller beaches, the 
wonderful collection of curios and antiques, telling their 
undisputable stories of a people of long ago, who had 
become almost forgotten by their successors to this favored 
home of those who " go down to the sea in ships." 




PEMAQUID VILLAGE. 
Looking east from masthead of schooner W. H. Moody. 




PEMAQUID CRESCENT SAND BEACH. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Description of Pemaquid as it appears to-day — A trip from Booth- 
bay to Pemaquid — Description of islands, harbors and places 
of interest along the route — Villages and places of interest 
up the Damariscotta river — The great oyster-shell heaps — 
Summer Piesorts — Were the Norsemen here ? — Old wharves 
and buildings of former fishermen — Passage through the 
Thread of Life— Capt. William Humphrey mail carrier from 
Boothbay to Monhegan — Lighthouse of Pemaquid Point and 
its keepers — Sheep that secure their own protection and food 
the year 'round without the help of man — Witch Island, the 
summer home of the "Witch of Wall Street" — Ancient bury- 
ing-ground in the woods — Ancient shell-heaps of the Indians, 
containing their bones and relics, at McFarland's Cove — 
High Island and lobster pounds — McLain's fish-trap — Cel- 
lars and "pits" of ancient settlers — John's Island and its 
former inhabitants — Battle there between the Indians and 
white soldiers — Large tomahawk and other Indian relics 
found there — Beaver Island — Camping out on this island 
over night — Used for adefence by De Iberville, when he 
attacked the fort in 1696 — Landing at Pemaquid Beach. 

^OR further description of Pemaquid it seems necessary 
to note the present appearance, and industries of its 
people. As most people visit this place by water, I will 
join the traveler at Boothbay, witn his permission, and 
point out the various places of interest as we journey to 
the former capital, now called Pemaquid Beach, located at 
the mouth of the Pemaquid Eiver. As we stand on the 
deck, or gaze from the cabin window of one of the steamers 
daily plying between Boothbay and this place in summer, 
many places of interest can be seen to good advantage. 

The first large island w^e pass on this trip is " Squir- 
rel" too well known as a summer resort to need any 



6 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

description on this trip. On the opposite side we pass the 
wide entrance of Limekin's Bay ; on the high land at the 
north end we plainly see the three villages of Bayville, 
Murray Hill and Paradise, on the eastern side the two 
great factories seen are the property of the American 
Fisheries Company. On the southern point at the eastern 
entrance of this bay we see the dark spruce-covered island 
called Nigger Island, and the pretty clustering summer cot- 
tages of the new settlement named Ocean Point. Then, as 
we enter the mouth of the Damariscotta River, close by on 
the right, we see the government lighthouse and bell of 
Ram Island; the next in line, extending south, is Fisher- 
mans, and the outer one Damariscove Island (called in 
times past Damerills). That has a very small harbor at the 
south end where a life-saving station is located. 

In 1676 when King Philip sent his emissaries along 
the coast of New England to annihilate the white settlers, 
the inhabitants of Pemaquid fled in terror from their 
homes, and three hundred of them gathered on Damaris- 
cove Island, and from there watched the smoking ruins of 
their former homes as they were being destroyed by the 
flaming torch of the savage. Here, too, in olden times the 
rollicking and jolly English fisherman celebrated his home 
customs by dancing around the May-pole to song and 
instrumental music. In this group those high islands lying 
a little farther east are rightly named White Islands. The 
Hypocrites, Pumpkin Islands and Outer Heron Island are 
others of this group. 

Many stories of ghosts, hidden treasures and pirates 
have been told of the latter island, legends that still cling 
to many a spot along our rugged coast. On Outer Heron 
Island is a colony of uncommon imported foxes, which are 
cared for by its owner Capt. R. H. Emerson, a veteran of 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 7 

the civil war, still carrying many scars of battle. Several 
fishermen keep him company, and on the surrounding 
islands others have their homes in close proximity to excel- 
lent fishing o-rounds. 

Passino- on to Inner Heron where we land at the 
northern end we are fairly among the great group of 
islands sometimes called the " Archipelago of Pemaquid." 
All the land we now see about us is surrounded by water 
except that lying across the river just west of us, and it 
could also be made an island by digging a canal a few hun- 
dred feet long. 

Inner Heron Island has a charming location, and is a 
noted health resort. Its hotel, the Madockawando, is 
named for a Chief of the Penobscot tribe whose daughter 
married the French ofiicer Baron de Castine. It is now 
presided over by our genial white chief Edwin Rogers. 
The majority of the summer visitors upon this island are 
from Western Massachusetts. Those wishing to take a 
side trip on their passage to Pemaquid to visit the various 
places of interest up the Damariscotta River, will be well 
repaid by stopping at this island, and joining the steamer 
Enterprise, withCapt. Race, who with his ofiicers and crew 
will be pleased to point out all interesting localities along 
the banks of that attractive river. 

The first landing place of the Enterprise is on the left 
bank of this river, called Rutherford's Island. This name 
is said to have been given it by Rev. Robert Rutherford, a 
Presbyterian clergyman who came to Pemaquid as chaplain 
for David Dunbar who was sent to rebuild Fort Frederic in 
1729. There, where a bridge joins the island to the main 
land, is a little village called South Bristol. A summer 
hotel called the Summit House kept by Mv. Nelson Gam- 
age, is well patronized by a fine class of people, many of 



8 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

them Friends or Quakers, from Philadelphia. A post- 
office, stores, a shipyard, and many summer cottages are 
found there. There is much interesting history connected 
with this part of the town, but I have not time to rehearse 
it now. The next village two miles distant across the river 
is East Boothbay, (formerly called Hodgdon's Mills from 
the large tide-mill there). Vessels of large dimensions 
were formerly built there, l)ut to-day principally fine steam 
and sailing yachts. 

Passing up the river, on Fort Island are the ruins of 
Fort Farley at its south end. The other places of interest 
along the l)anks of this river are estaljlishments where a 
great quantity of ice is cut principally from artificial fresh 
water ponds, on both banks of the river. Bricks, hay and 
wood are other articles of export. The transportation by 
large vessels plying up and down the river, often propelled 
by towboats, form interesting pictures which add to its 
attraction . 

Twelve miles from its mouth are the quiet and pretty 
twin villages of Damariscotta and Nev\'castle, one on either 
bank of the river joined l)y a substantial bridge. Two 
miles farther up the river, arc found the fanious Oyster 
Shell Mounds, a puzzle to the naturalist and investigator 
since first discovered by the Avhite settlers, where yet 
remain immense heaps of decomposing shells from two to 
twenty-five feet deep, covering acres of ground on the 
banks of the river, and in some places are found ten feet 
deep in the bed of the ba3\ In the October number of the 
New England Magazine, 1898, is to be found an excellent 
illustrated sketch pertaining to those mounds, written by 
George Stillman Berry. 

We will now continue our trip to Pemaquid. The 
next landing is the pretty little harbor of Christmas Cove, 




PEMAQUID HARBORS, 
site of Old Forts and Settlements near the Month of the Peniaquid River 



TEN YEARS AT PE3IAQUID. 9 

thought by some to have been named by the Norsemen 
when they visited our shores in the year 1001. It might 
be well to cherish this name in remembrance of their visits 
to our New England coast. There are many hieroglyphical 
inscriptions found upon rocks at Monhegan and Damaris- 
cove Islands, supposed by many to have been the work of 
the Norsemen ; and we have abundant historical evidence 
of their visits to our shores centuries before Columbus 
came here, and records recently found at the Vatican, by 
Mr. John B. Shipley show that the Roman Church had in 
its possession a map furnished by them of New England 
and the easterly coast, fifty years l^efore the Columbian 
Expedition, showing that their discovery was recorded at 
that time. It is strange if Columbus, as well as some 
other mariners of his time, did not learn of it long before 
he sailed for America. In 1892 a Viking ship, a model of 
one of those used a thousand years ago, passed these 
shores on its way to the World's Fair at Chicago. The 
story of those hardy men, pictures, and descriptions of 
their ships propelled hy oars and a single square sail, make 
interestino; readino;. " All the monarchs of England after 
William the Conqueror, himself the Grandson of a Sea 
King, are descendants of the hardy Norsemen. They wore 
hoods surmounted with eagles' Avings and walruses' tusks, 
mailed armor and for robes the skins of polar bears. In 
one of their own old ballads, their hardy and ferocious dis- 
position is well portrayed," 

" He scorns to rest 'neatli the smoky rafter, 
He plows with his boat the roaring deep; 
The billows boil and the storm howls after— 
But tempest is only a thing of laughter— 
The sea-king loves it better than sleep! " 

They deserve a passing notice here because we of 
English descent, can trace our ancestry back to the Norse- 



10 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

men who overrun England under William the Conqueror. 

Not many years ago Christmas Cove was one of the 
many fishing stations located along our coast from which 
sailed large and substantial fishing vessels, with sturdy 
crews on long voyages to the banks of Newfoundland and 
other places. The Thorp brothers owning two vessels, one 
called the " Mountain Laurel " sailed by Capt. Edward, 
and the " Twilight" by Capt. Loring Thorp, used to 
belong here. They made two trips to the banks for cod- 
fish each spring, being gone from six to eight weeks ; then 
during the latter part of the summer visited the Bay of 
Chaleurs and British coast in pursuit of mackerel. Large 
buildings were required to store and salt the fish they 
caught ; flakes covering much land were built to dry and 
cure them on. x\. store was provided to furnish with goods 
the families of those hardy men who manned their vessels. 
This is one of the " passing industries" of our sea coast. 
Steamers now land passengers where old bankers landed 
codfish. The old storehouses protect the freight and bag- 
gage of the summer visitors, and the descendants of the 
fishermen cater to their wants. 

As we pass out of Christmas Cove continuing our 
passage toward Pemaquid Beach, we leave Inner Heron 
Island on the south. That large island which the steamer 
now heads for, whose highest part is covered with spruce 
trees is called Thrumbcap. It is owned by Mr. Edward C. 
Holmes (a relative of Oliver Wendell Holmes) who with 
his family and friends have occupied it for several years, 
using steam and sailing 3'achts for conveyance to different 
places of interest. One of the prettiest little beaches to 
be found in this section extends across a cove at the south 
end of this island which consists entirely of finely broken 
and bleached mussel shells. Mr. Holmes has shipped 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 11 

many barrels of them for hen food. At one time he had a 
mill at one of the oyster shell heaps above referred to on 
the eastern bank of the Damariscotta River where he made 
a business of grinding up the shells for the same purpose. 

Here we change our course ; abruptly sweeping around 
the red spar buoy on our left, we enter a narrow passage 
called the " Thread of Life," which is formed by a part of 
the smaller islands, which extend in nearly a straight line 
between the two larger islands, Thrumbcap on the south 
and Birch Island on the north. The little huts seen along 
this passage upon either side of it, are occupied, a part of 
the year, by fishermen who come from a distance to catch 
lobsters, finding a safe and convenient harbor for the pur- 
suit of their occupation. 

Leaving this passage we pass another red buoy on the 
right at the north end of Crow Island and enter the 
southern part of John's Bay. In the far distance to the 
east we catch a glimpse of that "Grand Isle of the Sea" 
called Monhegan, an Indian name, having the accent on the 
second syllable, like Men-an-as, jVIus-con-gus, Xa-han-a-da, 
etc. This name is composed of two Indian words " Men- 
a-han" an island, and "Ki-gan" land in or by the great sea, 
meanino; island at sea, or s^reat sea island. 

This island is important on account of its connection 
with the early history of Pemaquid, being the one first 
mentioned in connection with it. For several years past it 
has been sought as a quiet retreat by artists and other 
people from the cities. Capt. William S. Humphrey with 
his schooner ' ' Effort " transports passengers and mail to 
and from Boothbay Harbor. He is now having a little 
steamer fitted up for that route called the Wa-wen-ock. 
For ages this great island stood like a sentinel to direct the 
incoming mariner to the mouth of the Penobscot River, as 



12 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

our other noted island of Seguin has always been the guide 
to the mouth of the Kennebec. There are now power- 
ful lights on each of those islands to guide the mariners 
at nio-ht while sailinir in all directions about them. 

The nearest land seen across the bay which forms its 
western boundary is Pemaquid Point, on which stands 
another government lighthouse and large fog bell, now 
attended by Charles A. Dolliver and Herman E. Brewer. 
This lio-hthouse was established and first attended in 1824 
by Mr. Isaac Dunham, whose grandson, Martin Y. B. 
Dunham, now has a fine summer cottage and owns the little 
island at the entrance of New Harbor, the northeastern 
boundary of that })oint. This is an excellent specimen of 
those finger-like projections spoken of in the preceding 
chapter, sloping from the high ridge along its center to the 
shore in all directions. This, like most of the other points 
and islands in this vicinity, is now partially covered with a 
thick growth of spruce and fir trees, which have taken the 
place of large pines and other growth, which, centuries ago, 
existed here. Capt. John Smith when he surveyed this 
coast in 1G14, wondered how so large trees could 2:row 
upon the islands and main in this vicinity. Along the 
high ridges of these peninsulas extend excellent roads, with 
branches leading in various directions to the shore. Many 
fine fields and pastures with the homes of their owners are 
scattered all over this locality forming an attractive scene. 

An interesting fact connected with this point is, that 
for many years past a large flock of sheep, ranging from 
one to three hundred in number, belonging to the Partridge 
heirs, have obtained their living on the western shore of 
this point of land. I am informed by Mr. Partridge that 
they have not been fed for many years past, until this 
winter, soon after the great storm of Nov. 27, 1898, he 



' t OT ■ , , ' ' I t ,< ''I I'll/'' 




SELF-SUPPORTING SHEEP. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 13 

had a small load of hay hauled down for them. I visited 
their feeding ground just a week afterwards, and the hay 
was still there, and the sheep were eating the food nature 
had supplied them with. They know when the tide leaves 
the shore at low water as well as a person ; they go in 
flocks to seek their food, eating the dulse and other vegeta- 
tion thrown up by the sea. At high water they feed upon 
the moss and evergreen foliage. Amons; the thickest clus- 
ters of spruce trees they find their only protection from the 
howling blasts of winter ; and this growth is so thick that 
no ray of sunshine can penetrate in summer ; they live and 
thrive with little care or expense to their owners. 

As we pass up the bay on the western shore, the high- 
est land seen in close proximity to us is called Otis' Head. 
Next in order comes Witch and Davis' Islands formerly 
owned by ' ' Uncle Tommie" Gamage so well known to 
commercial travelers and summer visitors whom he so often 
carries about in his little boat from place to place. Witch 
Island is the summer home of Mrs. Grace Cortland, (who 
is called the Witch of Wall Street) who with her husband, 
their relatives, and friends pass much of their time at this 
thickly wooded, and quiet summer retreat. The small 
island lying just south of Witch Island has one house upon 
it and is connected with Rutherford's Island by a foot 
bridge. This w'as formerly the home of the above men- 
tioned " Uncle Tommie" Gamage, but is now the summer 
home of Mrs. John J. Cavenough of Rhode Island. 

The next point of interest is just beyond Witch Island 
on the mainland ; at the head of a little cove is an old 
burying ground walled in with roughly laid stone, so 
thickly overgrown with large trees in and about the yard 
that it cannot be seen from the water's edge. An investi- 
gation will show that of about one hundred graves, marked 



14 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

mostly by natural, rough stones, but very few have any 
names or dates to indicate who were laid there. I have 
been informed by aged people living in this vicinity that in 
ancient times people were carried in boats from Pemaquid 
to this place for burial. 

Passing on to the next cove called McFarland's we find 
one of the pretty little nooks and corners for which Old 
Pemaquid is noted ; — a sand and pebble beach, a verdant 
field sloping to the sunny south ; at the water's edge grass- 
covered mounds of crumbling shells from which have been 
taken bones of the Indian and wild animals, with many fine 
implements of the former ; — a large boat-shop, operated by 
Addison McFarland, and several dwelling houses, the 
pleasant homes of the present settlers. This pretty little 
cove, beach and field are l)Ounded on the east and west by 
ridges of upheaved granitic ledges partially covered with 
soil and vegetation. 

The next high land above is called High Island. A 
large lobster pound is located there, owned by N. F. 
Trefethen of Portland. There is another one on the oppo- 
site side of the river operated by Capt. Alexander Ken- 
nedy. There are several of these pounds scattered along 
the coast of Maine ; they are artificial ponds of salt water 
formed by partially damming up small coves to retain tide 
water suflScient to keep alive large numbers of lobsters for 
several months. The dealers purchase them when plenty 
and cheap, and retain them to sell when scarce and high. 
The capacity of these pounds vary from ten to one hundred 
fifty thousand each. Capt. A. D. McLain of Pemaquid 
Beach and Robert H. Oram carry on another industry up 
this John's River, that of catching small fish principally 
herring in traps, supplying the large fishing schooners of 
Portland, Gloucester, Boston and other places with bait 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 15 

for the trips to the George's Banks, and other fishing 
shoals on our New England coast. The canning-factories 
use many of these small lish which are packed in cans, and 
sometimes labeled " Sardines," " Brook Trout," etc. Ex- 
cellent clams are found up this river and many lobsters are 
caught at some seasons of the year. 

Along the high western ridge, opposite the head 
waters of this river, are to be seen the fine dwellings of 
Mr. William Clark and Mr. William McClintock, the 
cleared land of their farms extending down to the water's 
edge. Mr. Clark has pointed out to me many cellars and 
other excavations called ' ' pits " along the head waters of 
this river, which were used by the first settlers, whose 
descendants, the Clarks and Drummonds still reside in 
town, and the Norths now reside at Augusta, Maine, and 
often in summer time visit the site of their ancestor's set- 
tlement. This river is simply an arm of John's Bay 
extending a few miles inland. It is salt water, and is 
called John's River to distinguish it from the wider part on 
the south. 

On our trip we have come straight from the " Thread 
of Life " to John's Island. Both l)ay and island are said to 
have been named by Capt. John Smith in 1614. The 
many little row and sail boats you have observed all along 
our course are those of the lobster catchers ; their small 
buoys hold up the lines that lead to their traps on the 
bottom. Many people along the coast follow that occupa- 
tion for a living. 

As we sail up the east side of John's Island we see 
that about one-third of it is covered with trees on the south 
end, with an open field on the north. It contains in all, 
about eighteen acres of land, has a fine spring of water 
under the bank, at the head of this cove which we pass 



16 TEX YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

close by, forming a harbor for small boats at high tide. 
Among its evergreens are the prettiest beds of mosses I 
ever stepped upon. A vein of trap rock perhaps twenty 
feet wide divides it running east and west across the island, 
where at each end the sea has washed out many cubical 
fragments leaving narrow inlets with steep and rugged 
walls, that cannot fail to interest the student of nature wdio 
makes a close examination of them W'hen the tide is out. 
One walled cellar still remains near the little cove, where 
lived at different times Solomon Davis, Ezekiel Thurston 
and William McLain. Many of the population of Pema- 
quid Beach to-day are the descendants of ]Mr. McLain. 
This island was formerly owned by Mr. J. W. Partridge 
and was his favorite pasture for sheep where they could be 
kept secure without expense to him for fencing. A battle 
between the Indian and English soldiers once took place 
here, in which twenty-five whites w^ere killed. Crumbling 
mounds of shells, bones and stone implements found, tell 
us that the red man once dwelt here. The largest stone 
tomahawk in possession of the Pemaquid Improvement 
Association w^as ploughed up on this island. Of recent 
years Sabbath-school picnics from villages near, with baked 
and chowdered clams for refreshments, baseball, and other 
games for amusement have been enjoyed. 

Next in line is Beaver Island with al)out fifty spruce 
trees yet standing; a few have been blown down during 
the recent gales of November and December of this year 
(1898). Two more barren ledges between that and the 
mainland complete the southern out-cropping of this central 
peninsula above spoken of which form the western bound- 
ary of Pemaquid Outer Harbor, and with the two more 
ledges called Knowles' Rocks, and Fish Point w^ith its 
great porgy factories, wdiich we have on our right form the 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 17 

south and east boundary of the excellent Outer Harbor of 
Pemaquid. 

There is little to tell of Beaver Island, except that in 
recent years, it has been used for a summer resort for a 
few sheep, two at a time being all its scant vegetation 
would supply with food, and naught but the dew to quench 
their thirst. In ancient times as tradition tells, — when 
the Fort was attacked by three French frigates of war one 
or more of them sought refuge behind this island to load 
their cannons and then with a cable attached to a kedge,. 
or small anchor, hauled out the frigate and after discharg- 
ing a broadside at the Fort retreated to load again. 

Crossing Pemaquid Outer Harbor in northeasterly 
direction our steamer makes its landing at Pemaquid 
Beach. Here we will land and "continue' our investigation 
of the history of this once noted place. Pemaquid is noted 
for what it has been, more than what it is to-day. 



CHAPTEK III. 

When was Pemaquid first settled? — A mystery yet unsolved — 
Mariners and fur-traders first here — Supply of food from the 
ocean — Gradually clearing away the forests for settlements — 
The loss of records of the place — Outskirts of New Eng- 
land — The ground of contention between the French Catho- 
lics, English Protestant and the Indian — Widely scattered 
records of Pemaquid — Important records recently found 
across the ocean — Complaint of Spain against the English 
for settling here fron^ 1606 to 1610 — Reply of England in 
1613 — A globe three hundred years old — Difficulty of gain- 
ing access to the records of France. 

^NE of the mysteries concerning this place is the exact 
date when the first house was built, the first street 
laid out, or paved. The first settlers wisely clung to their 
ships where they were always at home. No emergency of 
starvation threatened their extermination, where from the 
fishing grounds beneath them they could at will extract the 
choicest food to be obtained, ranging from the fine oyster 
to the " great fat cod." Gradually those who wished to 
settle on shore cleared away the great pines, spruces, oak, 
and birch, that covered the soil in this vicinity, and erected 
permanent homes ; slowly working back from the rivers, 
harbors and bays, which were their highways. 

On the west bank of the Pemaquid River are three 
cellars, the first one near the river bank where one of the 
early settlers made his home ; clearing the land around him 
and extending farther inland, he moved his house to the 
site where still is to be seen the second cellar, and so on 
until the third settlement was made near what is now the 
public highway. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 19 

Our history is unlilce that of Plymouth and many other 
places. There was no one here, who like Gov. Bradford 
kept a journal of passing events on shore, or if there was, 
the records may have been destroyed during the many 
struggles of the three contending nations, which captured 
the place, and each for a while held control of it. This 
being on the eastern outskirts of New England and 
claimed as a part of Acadia by the French Catholics, was 
for more than a century the contending ground between 
them, the Indians and the English Protestant settlers. 

In possession of the author is a copy of a map found 
among the archives of Spain, of Point Popham at the mouth 
of the Kennebec, showing a plan of Fort St. George, which 
was built there by the Popham Colony in 1607-8. Spain 
watched with jealous eye the early English settlements here, 
on what they claimed as their territory. Zuniga, ambassa- 
dor of King Philip III. of Spain to England, reported in 
1606 the project of Chief Justice Popham whom he desig- 
nates as a " great Puritan." On the 5th of March, 1610, 
Zuniga reports " I am told vessels are loading at Plymouth 
(Eng.) with men to people the country they have taken ; 
and colonies from Exeter and Plymouth are on two large 
rivers." In 1613 England replying to charges of Spain 
concerning the above recorded settlements, through Carle- 
ton, Secretary of State, declared "that she had no pos- 
sessions in the premises ; that England by discovery and 
actual possession had paramount title, through two colo- 
nies, whereof the latter is yet there remaining." This 
agrees with Capt. Smith's account in 1614. 

France also has many records of Old Pemaquid, and 
on their charts like those of Spain, the territory now 
called New England was marked New France. A globe 
three hundred years old found at Paris and another at New 



20 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

York brought from Spain, shows this part of the world 
marked New France on the former and New Spain on the 
latter. 

It is not strange that our scholars and historians have 
failed to obtain the records across the water pertaining to 
this place, those of France not being accessible to a person 
with the influence of J. P. Baxter, ex-Mayor of Portland, 
who is President of the Maine Historical Society, without 
a guard to accompany him. Only recently other plans and 
records have been obtained from French and English docu- 
ments that will be mentioned in connection with forts 
erected here. In this country I have found history relat- 
ing to Old Pemaquid extending from Jamestown, Va., 
along the sea coast to North Haven, Maine. Only a few 
threads from each locality can be woven into this sketch as 
no ordinary volume would contain the detail of all the doc- 
uments I have fortunately been al)le to examine during the 
past ten years. The fact is, we have not known exactly 
where to look for the history of Pemaquid, and a vast 
amount being disguised under some other title, it cannot 
be readily found. 



CHAPTER ly. 

Pemaquid as it was, and as it is — The first account we have in 
whicli the name of Pemaquid was mentioned — A visit of 
Capt. Geo. Weymoutli in 1605 — Hosier's narrative — Gift of 
the New World to Spain and Portugal by the Pope of Eome — 
Destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1688 — Eivalry between 
the French and English, which continued for over a century — 
Indians as allies of the French — Their forts at Port Royal, 
Louisburg and Castine — Monhegan visited by Capt. Geo. 
Weymouth — Finding a safe harbor among the George's Is- 
lands — Trading with the natives — Exploring the Pentecost 
(now called George's River) — Setting up a cross on one of 
the islands — Visiting and trading with the Indians — Char- 
acter of the Indians — Their ingenuity in making canoes, 
etc, — Superior to the English in swiftness — Description of 
Indian women — Tender care of their children — Their man- 
ner of killing the whale — The abundance of "great lobsters," 
"great fat cod," and other fish — Great variety of trees and 
other vegetation found here — Wild vines, berries and flow- 
ers — Capture of five Pemaquid Indians — Their names — 
Three Indians delivered to Sir Ferdinando Gorges — Histori- 
ans puzzled about the locality of Pemaquid by the account 
first published by Weymouth — Since made clear by extracts 
from his log-book — Where he set up the cross. 

^^^HE story we have of Pemaquid, gives an account of 
VU" Capt. George Weymouth's visit to this place, with 
his ship, "Archangel," and twenty-nine men, in 1605. 
Having taken a glance at Pemaquid as it appears to-day, as 
we approach it from the west by water, let us see how 
it looked to the early voyagers who came here from the 
east, in 1(305 and 1607. 

Soon after coming to Pemaquid in 1888, I met Mr. 
William Howard then stopping with his family at the 
Jamestown Hotel, who told me of a book in the possession 



22 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

of Mr. Daniel Penniman of New Harbor, which he kindly 
presented to me. I was happy to find that it contained 
much information concerning the early history of Pema- 
quid which I was in search of. This little book is entitled : 
" Hosier's Narrative of Weymouth's Voyage to the Coast of 
Maine in 1605." This interesting narrative was first fur- 
nished by Professor Sparks from England in 1843, and 
abounds with glowing and truthful descriptions of our 
coast; the manners and customs of the natives, etc. The 
visits of the Norsemen previously spoken of the passing 
fishermen of Spain, France, Portugal and England, who 
visited these shores, some as early as 1517 ; the voyage of 
Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, and the voyage of Capt. 
Martin Pring in 1603, are all of general historic interest, 
but they do not refer to Pemaquid in particular. 

Spain and Portugal once claimed all the New World 
by gift of the Pope of Rome ; but England and France 
refused to acquiesce in this division of the earth's surface. 
It is said that the king of France, w^hen he heard of the 
agreement of Spain and Portugal, pleasantly remarked, " I 
should be glad to see the claws in Adam's will, which 
makes that continent their inheritants exclusively." Eng- 
land and France afterwards combined to break the power 
of Spain, "then the mistress of the seas," and by the 
destruction of her war fleet, called the Spanish Armada, 
in 1588, for a time stayed the brutal hand of Spain, who 
for years had planned the cruel torture and destruction of 
all those who opposed her. Then those two nations who 
before had feared to claim this territory, became bitter 
rivals, and here on this historic ground of Pemaquid, was 
waged the bitterest warfare of their strife, continuing from 
the period of their first attempts at settlement on these 
shores to the close of the French and Indian Wars in 1759. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 23 

The wily French Jesuit and priest secured the service of the 
natives of old Ma-voo-shen, the Indian name by which 
most of the territory of this state was first known. 

The French were especially active, and in 1603 Henry 
IV. granted a charter of Acadia, embracing a large part of 
our territory now known as New England, to DeMonts a 
Frenchman, who was appointed lieutenant-general of the 
new territory. He came with his company first to the St. 
Croix River, fortified on Neutral Island and remained one 
winter, then removed to Port Royal (now Annapolis, 
Nova Scotia), and begun a settlement which became so 
important to the French holdings in America. 

The effect of this was to excite the English to new 
exertions ; and in the year of 1605 occurred the memorable 
voyage of Capt. George Weymouth. Capt. Weymouth 
sailed from England, March 31. Our island of Monhegan 
was the first land which they saw on reaching this coast. 
After anchoring their ship at the north of it they landed to 
obtain supplies of wood and water. They describe it as 
"wooded, grown with fir, birch, oak and beech. On the 
verge grew gooseberries, strawberries, wild peas, and 
wild rose bushes, and much fowl of different kinds breed 
upon the shore and rocks." While we were on shore, our 
men aboard with a few hooks got about 30 (thirty) great 
cods and haddocks, which gave us a taste of the great 
plenty of fish, which we found afterward where so ever we 
went along the coast." Capt. Weymouth then took his 
ship in toward the mainland and found a good harbor, well 
protected by several large islands, which have been known 
in the past as St. George's, but are now called George's 
Island. s They stopped about these islands until the 16th of 
June, sounding the depths of the water near the islands, 
and exploring a river which they named Pentecost, (now 



24 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

called George's River) lying directly between George's 
Islands and the mountains which they described. They 
built a pinnace on shore (a small boat) felled trees and dug 
a well, sowed peas and barley to test the fertility of the 
soil. 

Wednesday, 29th of May, they set up a Cross on one 
of these islands. On the 30th they were visited by Indians 
from other islands and mainland. These visits were re- 
turned by the white people and a pleasant intercourse with 
much traffic continued until the departure of their ship. 
He states: " for knives, glasses, combs and other trifles to 
the value of four or five shillings, we had forty good 
beaver's skins, otter's skins, sa])les and other small skins 
which we knew not how to call." They were earnestly re- 
quested to trade with their " Bashaba" or king, and 
"bring their ship -up to his house," but the ofier was 
declined. In a few days they became very friendly and 
would come on board the ship to eat, seeming much 
pleased with the food given them. The narrator says, " I 
noted they would eat nothing raw, neither fish or flesh." 
They are described as being very witty and ingenious. 

"The shape of their body is very proportionable, they are 
well countenanced, not very tall nor l)ig, but in stature like to 
us : they paint their bodies with black, their faces, some with 
red, some with black, and some with blue. 

Their clothing is beaver skins, or deer skins, cast over them 
like a mantle, and hanging down to their knees, made fast 
together upon the shoulder with leather : some of them had 
sleeves, most had none : some had buskins of such leather 
sewed. 

They suffer no hair to grow on their faces, but on their 
heads very long and very black, which those who have wives, 
bind up behind with a leather string, in a long round knot. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 25 

They seemed all very civil and merry : shewing tokens of 
much thankfulness for those things we gave them. We found 
them there (as after) a people of exceeding good invention, 
quick understanding and ready capacity. 

Their canoes are made without any iron, of the bark of a 
birch tree, strengthened within with ribs and hoops of wood, in 
so good fashion, with such excellent ingenious art, as they are 
able to bear seven or eight persons, far exceeding any in the 
Indies. 

This we noted as we went along, they in their canoe with 
three oars, would at their will go ahead of us and about us 
when we rowed with eight oars strong ; such was their swift- 
ness, by reason of the lightness and artificial composition of 
their canoe and oars. 

The women are described as follows : 

Here we saw four of their women, who stood behind them 
as desirous to see us, but not willing to be seen ; for before 
when so ever we came on shore, they retired into the woods, 
whether it were in regard of theii* own natural modesty, being 
covered, only as the men with the foresaid beaver's skins, or by 
the commanding jealousy of their husbands, which we rather 
suspected, because it is an inclination much noted to be in 
savages; wherefore we would by no means seem to take any 
special notice of them. They were very well favored in pro- 
portion of countenance, though colored black, low of stature, 
and fat, bareheaded as the men, wearing their hair long ; they 
had two little male children of a year and a half old as we 
judged, very fat and of good countenance, which they love 
tenderly, all naked except their legs, with which covered with 
their leather buskin sewed, fastened with straps to a girdle 
about their waist, which thej' gird very straight, and is decked 
round about with little round pieces of red copper : to these I 
gave chains, and bracelets, glasses, and other trifles, which the 
savages seemed to accept with great kindness. 



26 TEN YEARS AT PE3IAQUID. 

In reference to the five Pemaquid Indians captured on 
this voyage, the narrator says : 

Further I have thought fit to add some things worthy to 
be regarded, which we have observed from the savages since 
we took them. First although at the time when we surprised 
them, they made their best resistence, not knowing our purpose, 
nor what we were, nor how we meant to use them ; yet after 
perceiving by their kind usage we intended them no harm, they 
have never since seemed discontented with us, but very tract- 
able, loving and willing by their best means to satisfy us in 
anything we demand of them, by words or signs for their under- 
standing ; neither have they at any time been at the least 
discord among themselves : insomuch as we have not seen them 
angry, but merry ; and so kind, as if you give anything to one of 
them, he will distribute part to every one of the rest. We 
have brought them to understand some English, and we under- 
stand much of their language : so as we are able to ask them 
many things. And this we have observed, that if we shew them 
anything, and ask them if they have it in their country, they 
will tell you if they have, and the use of it, the difference from 
ours in bigness, color, or form : but if they have it not, be it a 
thing never so precious, they will deny the knowledge of it. 

They have names for many stars which they will show in 
the firmament. 

They shew great reverence to their king, and are in great 
subjection to their governors : and they will shew a great respect 
to any we tell them are our commanders. 

They shew the manner of how they make bread of their 
Indian wheat, and how they make butter and cheese of the milk 
they have of the reindeer and fallow deer, which they have 
tame as we have cows. 

They have excellent colors. And having seen our indigo, 
they make shew of it, or of some other like thing Avhich maketh 
as good a blue. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 27 

One special thing is their manner of killing the whale, 
which they call Pow-da-we ; and will describe his form ; how he 
bloweth up the water; and that he is twelve fathoms long; and 
that they go in company of their king with a multitude of their 
boats, and strike him with a bone made in fashion of a harping 
iron fastened to a rope, which they made great and strong of 
the bark of trees, which they veer out after him : then all their 
boats come about him, and as he riseth above water, with their 
arrows they shoot him to death : when they have killed him and 
dragged him to shore, they call all their chief lords together, 
and sing a song of joy : and those chief lords whom they call 
sagamores, divide the spoil, and give to every man a share, 
which pieces so distributed, they hang up about their houses for 
provisions ; and when thej boil them, they blow off the fat, and 
put to their peas, maize, and other pulse which they eat. 

In referring to the abundance of fish and their manner 
of catching them, he writes : 

We drew with a small net of twenty fathoms very nigh the 
shore : we got about thirty very good and great lobsters, many 
rock fish, some plaice and other small fishes, and fishes called 
lumjis, very pleasant to the taste ; and we generally observed, 
that all the fish, of what kind so ever we took, were well fed, 
fat, and sweet in taste. 

All along the shore, and some space within, where the 
wood hindereth not, grow plentifully, raspberries, gooseberries, 
strawberries, roses, currants, wild vines, angelica. 

Within the island grow wood of sundry sorts, some very 
great, and all tall, as birch, beech, ash, majile, spruce, cherry 
tree, yew, oak, very great and good, fir tree, out of which 
issueth turpentine in so marvelous j^lenty, and so sweet, as our 
chirurgeon and others aftirraed they never saw so good in Eng- 
land. We pulled off much gum, congealed on the outside of 
the bark, which smelled like frankincense. This would be a 
great benefit for making tar and pitch. 



28 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

The capture of five Pemaquid Indians with two canoes, 
with all their bows~and arrows, was an event of the utter- 
most importance on the voyage. The kidnapping of these 
Indians seemed an act of vandalism unworthy of men who 
professed to be Christians, as they did. Rosier claims that 
the capture was for the benefit of both nations, that on 
learning the language of each other, it would be a " public 
good and zeal of promulgating God's holy church, by 
planting Christianity, to be the sole intent of the honorable 
setters forth of this discovery." 

The first account of this voyage published in England 
on their return, together with the five Indian captives, 
"VVahanada, sagamore or commander; Amoret, Skicowaros, 
Maneddo, gentlemen; Saffacomoit, a servant; created wide- 
spread interest in that country. On his return, Capt. 
Weymouth first landed at Plymouth, England, where Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges was then captain : and he was so much 
interested in the Indians that he took three of them into 
his own family. Many years afterwards, w^hen writing his 
" Brief Narration " of his efforts to colonize New England, 
he says : " This accident must be acknowledged the means 
under God of putting a foot and giving life to all our 
plantations." 

The account of Weymouth's voyage, as first published, 
has puzzled those historians who depended upon that alone, 
because the longitude of the localit}'' and the course of the 
1'iver and mountains from their ship, while at anchor at 
Pentecost Harbor, were purposely omited to prevent their 
their rivals from learning of the precise locality of their 
discovery. Now all doubt has been set at rest by the 
publication of that information which was kept at the time 
by Capt. Weymouth's log-book, so that now it has been 
proven that Monhegan Island (then called St. George) 



TEN TEARS AT PEMAQUID. 29 

was the first island discovered and landed upon ; George's 
Island (afterward named St. George's by the Popham 
Colony in 1607) the first harbor entered, where the Cross 
was set up ; George's River leading up to Thomaston, 
the first river entered ; the Camden Mountains, the ones 
which the voygers " had constantly in view." 



CHAPTER V. 

An account of the Popham Colony, which visited this coast in 
1607 — The Plymouth Company — LordlChief Justice of Eng- 
land, Sir John Popham — Two ships called the "Mary and 
John," and the "Gift of God," with one hundred and twenty 
passengers — The largest number of the three early colo- 
nies — Visiting the jPemaquid River with the Indian pilot 
Skidwares — Meeting Nahanada with one hundred of his 
people — Friendly reception by the Indians — The first ser- 
mon delivered' on the New England shores — Landing of 
fifty white people, August!10th, 1607 — Return of Skidwares 
to his people — Good character of Nahanada — Visiting the 
white people, accompanied by his wife — They attend public 
worship. 

S a result of that "glowdng narrative" of Weymouth's 
voyage to the coast of Maine, with the exhibition of 
the Indians brought from there, was the chartering of the 
company for colonizing America called the Council of Vir- 
ginia. The charter authorized the formation of two com- 
panies, called the London and Plymouth companies, the 
latter being the only one which will concern us, being au- 
thorized to settle this part of the country which was then 
known as North Virginia. 

During the year of 1G06, the Lord Chief Justice of 
England and several other gentlemen deeply interested in 
the discoveries already made on this coast, sent two 
vessels to attempt further discoveries. The one in 
which Sir John Popham was interested was captured by the 
Spanish. But the spring of 1607 opened with new and 
better prospects. The settlement of Jamestown, Va., was 
begun by the London company. The Popham colony then 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 31 

made an attempt, under the auspices of the Plymouth com- 
pany, to found a plantation at the mouth of the Kennebec 
river, then called the Sagadahoc. This expedition sailed 
from Plymouth, June 10th, 1607, in two ships, the larger 
one called the "Mary and John," and the smaller one called 
a fly boat, named the "Gift of God." Beside their crews 
they had "one hundred and twenty persons for planters." 
Comparing this with the Jamestown, Va., colony on the 
Newport, May, 1607, of one hundred and five passengers, 
and the Mayflower of December 20, 1620, with one hun- 
dred and two Pilgrims, we note that the Pemaquid colony 
was the largest both in number of ships and people. They 
left Plymouth, Eng., on the last day of May and sighted 
Monhegan on the 6th of August, and found anchorage by 
the George's islands, probably agreed on as their place of 
rendezvous before leaving England. On the following day 
they sought a more secure harbor, doubtless that of Capt. 
Weymouth because they found the Cross he set up, and 
at once made preparations for an excursion westward to the 
Pemaquid river. 

The words of the narrator best tell the story : 

About midnight Capt. Gilbert caused his shipp's boat to be 
mannde with fourteen persons and the Indian Skidwares (brought 
to England by Capt Weymouth,) and rowed to the westward 
from their ship, to the river of Pemaquid, which they found to 
be four leagues distant from the shipp where she rode. The 
Indian brought them to the salvages' houses, where they found a 
hundred men, women and children ; and their commander, or 
sagamore, among them, named Nahanada, who had been brought 
Hkewise into England by Capt. Weymouth, and returned thither 
by Capt. Hanham, setting forth for those parts and some part of 
Canada the year before ; at their first coming the Indians betooke 
them to their armes, their bowes and arrowes; but after 



32 TEN YEARS AT TEMAQUID. 

Nahanada had talked with Skidwares and perceaved that they 
were English men, he caused them to lay aside their bowes and 
arrowes, and he himself came unto them and ymbraced, and made 
them much ivelcome, and entcrtayned them with much chierful- 
ness, and did they likewise him, and after two howers thus in 
terchangeahly spent, they returned abourd again, 

Sunday 9th, the chief of both the shipps, with the greatest 
part of all the company, landed on the island where the crosse 
stood, the which they called St. George's Island, and heard a 
sermon delivered unto them by Mr. Seymour, his preacher, and 
soe returned abourd againe. 

Monday 10th, Capt. Popham manned his shallop, and Capt. 
Gilbert his boat, with fifty persons in both, and departed for the 
river of Pemaquid, carrieing with them Skidwares, and arrived 
in the mouthe of the river : there came forth Nahanada, Avith all 
his company of Indians, Avith their bowes and arrowes in their 
handes. They, being before his dwelling house, would willingly 
have all our people come ashore, using them all in kind sort 
after their manner ; nevertheless, after one hower they all 
suddenly Avithdrew themselves into the woodes, nor was Skid- 
Avares desirous to return Avith them any more aboard. Our peo- 
\A(i loth to proffer any violence into them by draAving him by 
force, suffered him to stay behind, promising to return to them 
the day folloAving, but he did not. After his departure they 
imbarked themselves and roAved to the further side of the river, 
and there remayned on shoare for the night. 

They returned to their shipps toward the evening, where 
they still road under St. George Island. 

They Aveyed anchors and sett saile to goe for the river of 
Sachadehoc ; they liad little Avynd and kept their course Avest. 

The extract from Strachey is of deep interest to us as 
w^e learn that one at least, of the Indians, seized by Wey- 
mouth two years previous, Avas a Sagamore of Old Pemaquid. 
He is called Nahanada, Tahanedo, and Dehaneda — which 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 33 

are only difl'erent ways of spelling the same name. His 
character as chief whenever brought before us, appears to 
good advantage. After residing in England about a year 
he returned in 1606. His kind reception, with that of his 
subjects, to the Popham colony, was quite in contrast with 
his treatment by Capt. Weymouth. We next hear of Na- 
hanada October 3d, when he makes his appearance again at 
Kennebec, attended by his wife, and having in company a 
brother of the bashaba, Amenquin, another Sagamore, and 
his ever faithful attendant, Skidwares. This time they re- 
mained some three days, one of them being the Sabbath. 
Being invited by the president, they attended public wor- 
ship, behaving in all respects with the most perfect pro- 
priety. At their departure, Popham, president of the 
colony, bestowed upon them some trifling presents, prom- 
ising to visit in person the bashaba at Penobscot, and make 
arrangements for a regular trade. 



CHAPTER YI. 

The voyage of Capt. John Smith, of Pocahontas fame — Visit 
here in 1614 — Xaming different places on tlie Xew England 
shore Meeting Xahanada here — Foreign trade at that 
period — Smith's tribute to Xalianada — Truth of the story 
of Pocahontas and Smith — Smith's early-mapsT and charts 
the best. 

BFTER making a permanent settlement at Jamestown, 
Va., Smith was injured by an explosion of gun- 
powder in 1609, and returned to England for surgical aid. 
He was appointed admiral of New England, and in 161-4 
with a small boat and eight men surveyed the New Eng- 
land coast from the mouth of the Penobscot River to Cape 
Cod including our bay of Pemaquid and the harbor of 
Plymouth. He named New England in honor of Old 
England, Cape Ann, Charles River and Cape Elizabeth, 
which still retain the names he gave them. By request of 
Smith, Prince Charles of England, afterwards Charles I., 
named Pemaquid, St. John's town, and Monhegan, Battles 
Island. 

Smith had under his command a ship and bark with 
forty-five men. They came here "to take whales, and 
make trials of a mine of gold and copper ; they were not 
successful in either enterprise, but they secured a good 
quantity of codfish, and for a small sum purchased a large 
amount of furs of the Indians." Smith says, while his 
ships lay at Monhegan, "right against him in the main 
was a ship of Sir Fi-ancis Popham," and "forty leagues to 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 35 

the westward were two French ships, that had made then a 
great voyage by trade." This shows that at that period 
there was considerable intercourse between Europe and our 
Maine seacoast. 

Smith tells of a ship seen at New Harbor sent out by 
Sir Francis, son of George Popham, president of the col- 
ony, in command of Capt. Williams, and it is claimed this 
ship indicates the English were maintaining control of the 
territory. 

Some have said there are no good Indians, but I am 
proud of the record of ours of old Pemaquid. Capt. Smith 
again bears testimony to the good character of our Indian 
chief Nahanada and his friends, whom he affirms kindly 
assisted him whenever he desired them to. Smith says : 
<' The main assistance next God I had to this small number 
was my acquaintance among the salvadges, especially with 
Dohannida, one of their greatest lords who had lived long 
in England." 

I submit the following for defence of Capt. Smith 
whose veracity for truth has been questioned by some 
historians within a few years past. The truth of the story 
of Pocahontas and Smith was never doubted till 1866, when 
the eminent antiquary Dr. Charles Dean of Cambridge, in 
reprinting Smith's books, found that he had not spoken of 
it in his Jirst book, which was published about 1618. John 
Clark Ridpath, author of one of our best histories of the 
United States says of Capt. Smith — '*His was a strange 
and wonderful career ! John Smith was altogether the 
most noted man in the early history of America. There is 
no reason in the world for doubting the truth of this affect- 
ing and romantic story ; one of the most marvelous and 
touching in the history of any nation." I have read 



36 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

many favorable accounts of Smith written by his contem- 
poraries ; will simply quote one by Thomas Carlton. 

" I never knew a warrior yet, but thee, 
From wine, tobacco, dice, debts and oaths so free." 

Among the early charts of five different nations : the 
English, French, Spanish, Portugese and Dutch, who were 
in early times struggling for a foothold upon this conti- 
nent, I find upon examination, that of Capt. John Smith is 
far superior to that of any other. Smith's description of 
this part of the country, and the publication of his map of 
the coast, was an important event in our history. 



CHAPTER yil. 

Early traffic at Pemaquid — Record of one hundred and nine ships 
between 1607 and 1622 — Intercourse between Pemaquid and 
Virginia — Pemaquid the place where civilization began in 
New England, according to Thornton — Capt. John Smith's 
testimony in 1614 — Fort and relics at New Harbor — Thirty 
ships sailing and trading at Pemaquid in 1622 — Alewives and 
other fish for bait obtained by vessels from Portland, Glouc- 
ester and Boston, at Pemaquid — The Plymouth colony sup- 
plied with food from there in 1622 — Governor .Bradford 
sends Winslow there for food — Fishing vessel from Ply- 
moiith wrecked here — Lack of interest in our history by the 
people of our state — A monument should be erected at Old 
Pemaquid — Blockhouse at Edgecomb — The sacred cod-fish. 

CONSIDERABLE business was transacted along this 
coast with the fisheries and fur trade, which centered 
chiefly at Monhegan and Pemaquid, as we have evidence 
by the records of tlie number of ships sailing here annually 
from Europe. It has been determined that between the 
years 1607 and 1622, no less than '* 109 ships entered and 
cleared from the harbors of Pemaquid and its dependencies, 
where they did more or less business in the discharge and 
receipt of cargoes and commerce with Europe." The Eng- 
lish ships employed in transporting emigrants to Virginia 
with their necessary supplies, found it for their interest, 
on their return, to call on this coast and obtain such return 
cargoes of fish and furs, as the constantly increasing busi- 
ness of the country was able to afibrd. 

"While the Pils^rims were struijojlino: for life at 
Plymouth, and Conant was founding Cape Ann," says 
Thornton, " Pemaquid was probably the busiest place on 



38 TEN YEARS AT TEMAQUID. 

the coast." J. Wingatc Thornton of Massachusetts, was 
a reliable historian, and another quotation of his is worthy 
to be mentioned, which reads as follows : "To Pemaqnid 
we must look for the initiation of civilization into JVeiv 
England.'' 

Smith says, that the ship of Sir Francis Popham had 
been accustomed to trade at the port of New Harbor sever- 
al years previously. The definite lines of an old fort 
with foundation walls 51 x 52 feet square, and 5 feet 
thick, still remain. Many cellars can still be traced about 
New Haven. Choice relics have been found in that vicin- 
ity : the fragments of ancient mill-stones, unglazed earth- 
en pottery, remains of kettles, large spoons, lead, bullets 
in large quantities, a leaden relic of trade, such as was- 
used by the English people in olden times to tag cloth 
with, with the date of 1(510 upon it. 

In 1622 there were thirty ships trading and fishing 
about Pemaquid ; this, no doubt included Boothbay Harbor, 
Damariscove, Monhegan, New Harbor and Pemaquid as 
known to-day. One genthunan has suggested that Pema- 
quid was not entitled to the credit of this number of ships, 
and suggested that they must have belonged to Damariscove, 
but he could not have been familiar with that place, for as 
one fisherman aptly remarked: "there is not room to 
moor thirty dories in that harbor, let alone thirty ships," 
all of w^hich must have been large enough to cross the 
ocean. The harbor of Monhegan is not more suitable for 
that number of ships, neither is New Harbor. I find a 
statement sworn to by Abraham Shurte, stating that " Dam- 
ariscove with all the islands adjacent belonged to Pemaquid." 

Another reason why this Avhich is known as Pemaquid 
Beach nnist have been the principal resort for fishing and 
trading is on account of its excellent harbors and being 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 39 

by far the best locality for the fishermen to obtain bait 
which they found in great abundance at the Falls of the 
Pemaquid River which have ever since supplied bait for the 
fishermen and excellent food for the people of this locality, 
known as " smoked ale wives." To this day many of the 
best fishermen which sail from Boston, Gloucester and 
Portland visit this place to obtain fresh bait ; the alewives 
of the Pemaquid River are especially sought for during 
their season, being considered the best bait that can be ob- 
tained to catch halibut. 

From the following copied account and other writings 
of early times, some have been led to think that Damaris- 
cove and Monhegan were superior to Pemaquid, but the 
testimony of Shurte teaches us differently. It was natural 
that the early mariners should write of these islands as 
they did, they being the most conspicuous to them when 
they approached or passed this locality in their ships. No 
one familiar with this whole region can for a moment 
doubt that this was the metropolis of this locality, as stated 
in history. Even to-day, after centuries have elapsed, 
during which man and nature have combined to lay waste 
and obliterate its remains of former civilization, there is 
more left beneath the waters of its harbors, along the 
banks of its noted river, its waterfalls and its tributary 
lakes for twenty miles back into the country, and in much 
of the territory then known as the " kingdom of Pema- 
quid ;" more relics of early civilization yet remain here 
than can be found at Plymouth and Jamestown, Virginia, 
combined. The Pemaquid River was once noted for its 
wild game ; its waters were the highway of the natives 
leading back to the territory, where they trapped and 
shot wild game and procured the fine furs which foreign 
ships came here to purchase. 



40 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

"Among the scattered specks of struggling civiliza- 
tion, dotting the skirts of the green primeval forests," said 
Adams, "the little colony of Plymouth was not the least." 
This little colony had been established only about eighteen 
months. It had struggled through its second winter, and 
now, sadly reduced in number, with supplies w^holly ex- 
hausted, the Pilgrims were sorely distressed. They were 
entirely destitute of bread. There was an emergency of 
starvation at Plymouth. The whole settlement was alive 
with excitement, when suddenly a boat was seen to cross 
the mouth of Plymouth Bay and disappeard behind the 
next headland. A shot was tired as a signal, in answer to 
which the boat changed course and headed for the harbor. 
It proved to be the shallop of the Sparrow, Weston's ship 
from the Pemaquid dependency of Damariscove, with seven 
men and a letter from Capt. Hudson, which informed the 
Pilgrims of the Eastern port, a place of l>read and resources 
of trade. The Waif had sailed forty leagues from places in 
the eastern parts, known as Monhegan and " Damerill's 
Isles" (Damariscove) where were many ships. The little 
boat landed under a salute of three volleys of musketry 
from the Pilgrims on learning the good news from these 
"Eastern parts," and its neighborhood. 

With the return of the Sparrow's boat. Gov. Bradford 
sent Winslow, with the Pilgrims' shallop and means to 
purchase food supplies, and piloted back the Pilgrims who 
first learned the way and the resources of Maine by this 
waif of her seacoast, where lleets from Bristol and London 
now crowded the fishing and fur stations of Pemaquid. 
Thus informed, the hungry Pilgrims eagerly sought for sup- 
plies there to be had, and from the ships a " good quantity 
of provisions were obtained without money and without 
price, ample to give each Pilgrim a quarter of a pound of 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 41 

bread day by day, till next harvest." " On returning and 
reporting, the Pilgrims at once prepared to share the profits 
of the business enterprises at and about Pemaquid, and a 
fishing vessel was procured, fitted out at Plymouth, and 
sent into the fisheries there." She reached Boothbay Har- 
bor and sought the anchorage, where ships from England 
used to ride. In 1624, many English ships were there. 
A terrible storm came on which drove the Plymouth ship 
ashore, a wreck, when she sunk, the captain and one man 
being lost. By help there obtained, the wrecked vessel 
was raised and floated by casks attached to the heel at low 
water, taken ashore and repaired, refitted and put again 
into Pilgrim service. 

I have found that some people who have visited this 
place though apparently well posted in history, are not 
willing to admit the former importance of Old Pemaquid. 
That may be excusable from visitors from Massachusetts 
who have forgotten, or never knew that during much of the 
period of its most striking event, this place was as much in 
Massachusetts as ancient Plymouth. But the apathy of 
some of the people of our state is surprising and I some- 
times think that a majority of our best informed citizens 
have emigrated to other states. 

I blame no one for lauding Plymouth and its noble 
Pilgrim settlers. None too many monuments have been 
erected, none too many relics preserved, none too much 
history recorded, all are good and excellent educators and 
it is right that our citizens should know as much at least 
about our own country, as of Africa or Australia. It is 
plainly shown by the above records that the early settlers 
of these two colonies must have become mutual friends ; 
like two people from the same town meeting in foreign 
ports or cities, they at once became interested in each 
other's welfare. 



42 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Now, what I have to complain of is, that we have no 
monument here, and only an apology for a musemn ; that 
many of our relics and much of our history have been scat- 
tered far and wide, to our disgrace. It is said, not a 
monum(mt or tablet has been erected to teach our children, 
our citizens or our visitors the place where " Civilization 
began in New England." Where the Pilgrims were pre- 
sented with the " staff of life " that saved them to our 
country, where lived and died the noble Indian Sam-ar-set 
who first ivelcomed them to these New England shores and 
who saved them " from destruction both by their enemies 
and from starvation" as they themselves record. 

Instead of building up monumental records for educa- 
tion, we have allowed the destruction of many of the 
choicest ones we had by vandalism and neglect, as the beau- 
tiful and elegant mansion, the home of Gen. Henry Knox, 
once Gen. Washington's trusted friend, Fort Frederick, 
Fort Farley and many other noted landmarks of the past. 
Only one of the many forts once scattered along our coast, 
is left. Fort Pxlgecomb, a blockhouse near Wiscasset, and 
in respect to that, the timely interest of a local editor, 
Mr. Wood, set on foot repairs to which summer visitors 
contributcul, ])y which it was saved from disgrace and 
destruction. 

Some have spoken with contempt of this })lace, judg- 
ing from its present appearance that it could only have 
been a little '■'■JisJiing station" in the past. But its fish 
oven, are not to be sneered at, for they have ever been 
noted since Weymouth's voyage in 1605. For many gener- 
ations in the State House at Boston has hung an cfiigy of 
the sacred cod-fish, and when it was transferred from the 
Old Capital to its new quarters a few years ago that august 
body of legislators on Beacon Hill suspended all other 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 43 

business, while a party of their colleagues bore that sacred 
emblem of an occupation that helped to build up their city, 
in state upon a tablet draped with the stars and stripes, 
carried upon their shoulders and deposited, where it is still 
to remain in sight of their lawmakers, a reminder of the 
foundation industries of their commonwealth. Fish and 
beans, the products of the sea and land, should never be 
sneered at by those who love the great " Hub of the 
Universe." 



CHAPTER yill. 

First Deed ever i)roi)erly executed in America — William Cox, one 
of the witnesses of deed, and his descendants — N. I. Bow- 
ditch, Esq., his tribute to Abraham Shurte — Land purchased 
here by Gov. Bradford and others from Plymoutli — Smitli 
and Brown, Abraliam Shurte, John Earthy, and other noted 
men of Pemaquid — Their good intluence over the Indians. 

jVEK a half-t'cntury before William Penn, the noted 
Friend or Quaker, made his memorable treaty with 
the Indian, and purchased of them honoral)ly the state of 
Pennsylvania, John Brown of this place set the example by 
an honoral>le purchase of a large tract of land of the orig- 
inal owners at Pemaquid. 

Representatives of those two noted names. Smith and 
Brow^n, did not fail to appear at Old Pemaquid and are to 
be found here yet. "We have taken note of what Capt. 
John Smith has accomplished, now we will see what was 
done by John Brown. The purchase of land of the Pema- 
quid Indians constitutes another important epoch in our 
history. Prof. John Johnston's history of Bristol and 
Bremen states that Brown probably came here direct from 
Bristol, England, and he copies a document from the 
records of that place relating to him, dated Feb. 21, 1658, 
wdien Robert Allen testified that he had often told him that 
" he was the son of Richard Brown of Barton Regis, in 
Gloucester, in England, and that he married Margaret, 
daughter of Francis Hay ward of Bristol." 

To all people whom it may concern. Know ye, that I 
Capt. John Somerset and Unongoit, Indian sagamores, they 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 45 

being the proper heirs to all the lands on both sides of Muscon- 
gus river, have bargained and sold to John Brown of New Har- 
bour this certain tract or parcell of land as followeth, that is to 
say, beginning at Pemaquid Falls and so running a direct course 
to the head of New Harbour, from thence to the south end of 
Muscongus Island, taking in the island, and so running five and 
twenty miles into the country north and by east, and thence 
eight miles northwest and by west, and then turning and run- 
ning south and by west to Pemaquid where first begun. To all 
which lands above bounded, the said Captain John Somerset and 
Unnongoit, Indian sagamores, have granted and made over to 
the above said John Brown, of New Harbor, in and for consid- 
eration of fifty skins, to us in hand paid, to our full satisfaction, 
for the above mentioned lands, and we the above said sagamores 
do bind ourselves and our heirs forever to defend the above said 
John Brown and his heirs in the quiet and peaceable possession 
of the above said lands. In witness whereunto, the said Capt. 
John Somerset and Unnongoit have set oxir hands and seals this 
fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord God one thousand 
six hundred and twenty-five. 

Capt. John Someeset, [seal] 
Unnongoit. [seal] 

Signed and sealed in presence of us, 
Matthew Newman, 
Wm. Cox. 

July 24, 1626, Capt. John Somerset and Unnongoit, Indian 
Sagamores, personally appeared and acknowledged this instru- 
ment to be their act and deed, at Pemaquid, before me, 

Abraham Shubte. 

Charlestown, December 26, 1720, Read, and at the request 
of James Stilson, and his sister Margaret Hilton, formerly Stil- 
son, they being claimers and heirs of said lands, accordingly 
entered. Per Samuel Phipps, 

One of the Clerks of the Committee for Eastern Lands. 



46 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

I have procured a copy of the above deed with the 
affidavit concerning its record which occurred nearly one 
hundred years after the deed was executed, which we have 
framed and hung up on exhibition at the Rock Cottage of 
our Improvement Association. 

We know nothing now of Matthew Newman's history, 
one of the witnesses of this deed, but Johnston says Cox 
became a resident of this place and his posterity of the 
name are still here. The late Capt. Israel Cox of Bristol 
who was one of the selectmen of the town of Bristol, 
claimed that this William Cox was his oreat srandfather's 
father. An interesting circumstance in connection with 
this deed is that the following list of names, written by the 
last signer of it, are on our Register, Aug. 28, 1896. 1. 
William Cox, witness of the first deed executed in America. 
2. John of Pemaquid and Sagadahoc. 3. John, Jr. of 
Sagadahoc and Dorchester. 4. Ebenezer of Dorchester. 
5. Benjiman of Hurdunk. 6. Benjiman of Vermont. 7. 
Allen of Vermont. 8. Gardener Cox, M. D., Holyoke, 
Mass. 

The last signer of the above list came here to s^ather 
information about his ancestors and to locate land once 
owned here by them. I think he has since published a 
history of the family. 

In 1897 Mr. Edward J. Cox of Newtonville, Mass., 
visited this place for the same purpose as the doctor above 
mentioned and recorded his ancestors' names in an un- 
broken line of descent to the signer of that deed, he being 
of the ninth generation. 

The precision and conciseness of this deed of convey- 
ance of American soil, written at Pemaquid, and the neat 
and compact formula of acknowledgment, drawn up by 
Abraham Shurte, and still adhered to in New England, 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 47 

word for word, are interesting to the jurist. There was no 
precedent for the acknowledgment, or the formula, and 
Mr. Shurte is well entitled to be remembered as the father 
of American conveyancing. 

The following witty dedication of his book by the late 
N. I. Bowditch, Esq., of Boston in his work on Suffolk 
Surnames is interesting. "To the memory of Abraham 
Shurte, the Father of American Conveyancing, whose name 
is associated alike with my daily toilet and my daily occu- 
pation. — N. I. Bowditch." The first legislation of Mass- 
achusetts providing for this mode of authenticating deeds, 
did not occur until 1640, when commissioners were espe- 
cially appointed for the purpose, and Plymouth colony did 
not adopt this security against fraudulent conveyances until 
six years later, in 1646. 

This deed was not recorded for nearly a hundred 
years, and was then entered on the records at Charlestown, 
Mass. 

I have also a copy of a deed showing that the Ply- 
mouth people purchased a large tract of land lying on the 
Kennebec River which was deeded to them by our Nahana- 
da and his brother and father. The land in this region 
being so fertile compared with that of Cape Cod, and the 
waters so abounding in superior food supplies, the colonists 
of Plymouth and vicinity come for a share of the boun- 
tiful products of Pemaquid. 

This citizen of Pemaquid, Abraham Shurte, (some- 
times written Shurd, occasionally Short) deserved more 
than a passing notice for I wish to show that with the other 
important relations of Old Pemaquid we had as many good 
people, both Indians and whites, as any other settlements 
on the New England coast. Shurte became a resident of 
Pemaquid soon after his arrival in this country and spent 



48 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

the rest of his life here. He was active in business and 
extended his trade along the shore west to Boston and east 
to Nova Scotia. In one of his excursions when on his way 
to Boston with Capt. Wright he came near losing his life 
by the recklessness of a seaman who in attempting to light 
his pipe near a keg of gunpowder, exploded it and blew 
the vessel and himself to atoms. Shurte and the others 
escaped. He is always spoken of as a magistrate of 
influence in the colony. The Indians he always treated 
kindly and justly, and thus retained their friendship even 
when they were enraged at others. 

In the summer of 1631 near a hundred of the Eastern 
Indians with thirty canoes, went to Agawam, (now 
Ipswich, Mass.) killed and captured Indians residing 
there, among them the wife of one of their Sagamores. 
Through the influence of Shurte she was restored to the 
Chief. This probably laid the foundation of the friendship 
ever afterwards shown him. We have never found the 
name since in history, and have no reliable record of his 
death, but learn that in 1662 he was eighty years of age. 

Another citizen of Pemaquid is worthy of note, John 
Earthy, and also Richard Oliver of Monhegan, who de- 
serve praise for their eftbrts to pacify the Indian, when 
they threatened danger to the white people. John Earthy 
was licensed to keep a house of " publicke entertayn- 
mente " at Pemaquid by the Commissioners Court. After 
visiting Boston in winter time in the interests of this place 
he returned, and found a vessel lurking on this coast, wait- 
ing to capture Indians for slaves as had been done occa- 
sionally for many years. Mr. Earthy hastened to visit the 
captain and argued with him against doing such injustice 
to a people with whom they were at peace. He also 
cautioned the Indians to be on their guard. So the slaver 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 49 

was unsuccessful here, but gained his object farther east- 
ward. His name is mentioned as attending a conference at 
the Kennebec, to secure peace between the whites and In- 
dians. At this conference were Assiminasqua, chief of the 
Penobscots, and Madockawando, his adopted son, Tarum- 
kin, a chief of the Androscoggins, Hopegood and Mugg, 
and many others. Mugg belonged to the Penobscot tribe. 
The Indians, plainly showing that they had been ill-treated 
by the whites, seemed to have the best of the argument at 
this conference. Later we find his name with Oliver's and 
Isaac Addiugton's, a well known gentleman of Boston and 
member of the first church there in 1679, as witnesses to a 
treaty of peace with the Indians signed by Mugg in behalf 
of Madockawando and other chiefs at Boston, Nov. 13, 
1676. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1^'oted Indians — Samarset, Unnongoit, Nahanada, etc. — Excellent 
character of the tribe — Samarset the first Indian chief to 
welcome the Pilgrims to the New England shores — His 
assistance to them during their early struggle at Plymouth — 
His knowledge concerning all the Indian tribes of New Eng- 
land and all the sea captains visiting Pemaquid — Capt. 
Levett's account of Samarset's visit to him with his wife and 
son — He was highly respected by the white people and those 
of his own tribe — War and pestilence among the Indians. 

♦tfT^ERE, at Old Pemaquid we find Indian names of 
11%/ individuals which stand higher on the pinnacle of 
fame than any others ever yet placed on record for their 
good and excellent traits of character. The name of the 
tribe located in this place of whom Nahanada was the chief, 
was the Wa-wen-ock. We are again bothered by a lack 
of phonetic spelling which ought to have been adopted long 
ago. By following our previous rule we have Sam-ar-set, 
Un-on-go-it , etc. 

Unfortunately we have but little history of the early 
Bashaba, Unnongoit, Madockawando and others ; so of 
many of the early white settlers connected with this place 
our records so far are but meagre. 

This noted Indian sachem Samarset, has left behind 
him a name in every way interesting and honorable. We 
first learn of him at Plymouth soon after the landing of the 
Pilgrims, when he was the first to ivelcome *' The Pilgrim 
Fathers "to the inhospitable shores of Cape Cod. The 
natives feared and avoided them and until this time held no 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 51 

intercourse. The Pilgrims first unwisely incurred the 
enmity of the natives by their hostility in chasing them 
with arms upon their own shores, and threatening them 
with injury. 

The Pilgrims at this time were in great peril, fearing 
destruction from their savage foes. He very boldly came 
among them and saluted them in English, and bade them 
*' Welco?ne." Their account relates : " We questioned him 
of many things." His answer to them about the location 
of Pemaquid was significant, when he stated : "It lyeth 
hence a day's sail with a great wind, and five days by 
land," thus indicating there was an Indian trail leading 
alono; the New Eusrland shores. 

We have further evidence here of communication and 
traflSc between the diflerent tribes of New England, by the 
fine jasper arrow head and chips, which we find in the 
Indian shell heap upon the banks of the Pemaquid River. 
I have never l)een able to learn of any other locality in 
New England where these choice pieces of flint can be 
obtained, except just west of the city of Lynn, Mass., 
where a vein of it crops out on the bank of the Saugus 
River, near the station at Saugus Centre. 

Samarset was able to give them information by giving 
the names of the ships and their captains which had fished 
and traded at Pemaquid ports for many years. He could 
name the Chiefs of all the New England tribes and tell 
them the number of their warriors. Their description of 
him in the followino; words is interestinsj : 

The wind beginning to rise a little we cast a horseman's 
coat about him ; for he was stark naked, only a leather about his 
waist, with a fringe about a span long or little more. He had a 
bow and two arrows, the one headed and the other unheaded. 
He was a tall, straight man ; the hair of his head black, long 



52 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

behind, only short before ; none on his face at all. He asked 
some beer, but we gave him strong water, and biscuit, and 
butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard ; all of 
which he liked well, and had been acquainted with such amongst 
the English. * * * All the afternoon we spent in conversa- 
tion with him. 

Bradford says that " he came boldly amongst them and 
spoke to them in broken English, which they could well 
understand." He became profitable to them in acquainting 
them with many things concerning the state of the country 
in the east parts where he lived, which was afterwards 
profitable unto them. 

Both of the writers just quoted proceed to show the 
various modes in which this interesting "savage" made 
himself " profitable " to them. He informed them of the 
hostility of the natives to the English, in consequence of 
Hunt's treachery, some years before, and used his influence 
to produce a better state of feeling. He introduced to 
them his friend Squanto or Tisquantum, a native of the 
place who had been in England, and who afterwards 
became ' ' a spetiall instrument sent of God for their good 
beyond their expectation." 

Samarset continued in the vicinity some time, always 
seeking to promote good feeling between the English and 
the natives. This led to the formation of a treaty of peace 
between the new colony and Massasoit, sagamore of the 
neighboring Wampanoag Indians, which remained inviolate 
more than fifty years, or until the time of King Philip's 
war in 1675. Samarset probably returned soon after this 
to his native place, as we hear nothing further of him at 
Plymouth. 

The next we hear of him he is at Capmanwagan 
(Capenewagen) or the coast of Maine, at the time of 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 53 

Levett's visit there, in the winter of 1623-4. Levett intro- 
duced him to us as a " sagamore that hath been found very 
faithful to the English, and hath saved the lives of many of 
our nation, some from starving, and others from killing." 
He received Levett with much cordiality, calling him 
cousin. He had become so much acquainted with the 
English as to be entirely free from the timidities usually 
shown by the natives at this early period, and proposed 
that perpetual friendship should be maintained between 
them, "until Tanto carried them to his wigwam, that is, 
until they died." He had his wife and son with him there, 
and several noble attendants. The simple narrative of 
Levett presents them before us in a very interesting light. 
His wife in particular conducted herself in true royal style. 
" When we came to York the masters of the ships came to 
bid me welcome, and asked what savages those were. I 
told them, and I thanked them; they used them kindly, 
gave them meat, drink and tol^acco. The woman, or 
reported queen, asked me if those men were my friends. 
I told her they were ; then she drank to them, and told 
them they were welcome to her country, and so should all 
my friends be at any time, she drank also to her husband, 
and bid him welcome to her country too ; for you must 
understand that her father was the Sagamore of this place, 
and left it to her at his death, having no more children." 

Samarset lived many years after this in quiet and 
peaceable intercourse with his new neighbors ; certain it is 
history records no quarrel between the parties ! Samarset 
must at this time have been an old man, and probably soon 
passed away. Though an " untutored savage," he has left 
behind him a character highly creditable to him, as a man 
of elevated rank among his countrymen. He appears not 
only to have been destitute of the jealousies and petty 



54 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

vices of his race ; but, at the same time, to have manifested 
on all occasions a love of justice and truth, a generous 
confidence in others, and an elevation of soul far superior 
to very many of the Europeans with whom he was brought 
in contact. The fact that as late as 1673 his name was still 
remembered among the natives as that of a " famous 
Sachem," shows that his manly character was not unappre- 
ciated by them. 

In 1615, fierce wars broke out among the Indians, 
during which the great Bashaba of the Penobscot was slain, 
and probably his whole family was destroyed, for we hear 
no more of such a ruler in this region ; then a dreadful 
pestilence broke out among the savages and continued for 
several years. At that time this great diminution of the 
native population favored the colonization of the country 
by Europeans. 



CHAPTEK X. 

Pemaquid patent — Its discovery at Worcester, Massachusetts — 
12,000 acres of land conveyed to Kobert Aldsworth and Gyles 
Elbridge — Shem Drowne who constructed the grasshopper 
vane on Faneuil Hall at Boston — The deed a decided curiosity. 

HN important document called " The Patent," is 
deposited in the library of the American Antiqua- 
rian Society at Worcester, Mass. ; it will take up too much 
room to copy in this sketch, but I will give the dates and 
name the parties interested in this document, because of its 
connection with the early history of this place, for a period 
of nearly two hundred years. It had the peculiar date at 
the heading, which read as follows : " This Indentuee 
made the Nine and twenteth day of February Anno D'm 
1631, And in the Seaventh yeere of the Raigne of our 
Sovraigne Lord Charles by the grace of God King of Eng- 
land Scotland France and Ireland, Defender of the ffaith," 
etc. 

This patent or deed conveyed twelve thousand acres of 
land at Pemaquid to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles El- 
bridge, merchants of Bristol, England. Capt. Walter 
Neale acted as agent of the grantors, and Mr. Abraham 
Shurte of Pemaquid, as agent for the grantees. Shem 
Drowne who constructed the noted grasshopper vane on 
Faneuil Hall at Boston, long acted as agent for the heirs- 
at-law who claimed this territory under the patent above 
spoken of. 



56 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Johnson says : 

The deed of White and Davidson who afterwards came 
into possession of this patent, by which they conveyed it to 
others, are decided curiosities. They go wonderfully into 
details conveying to the grantee everything above and below, 
around and beneath, real and imaginary, pertaining to the place. 
The deed to White is a full warranty, as we should call it at 
the present time ; and the grantor engages " to save and keep 
harmless and indemnifie, as well the said Paul White, his heirs, 
undertakes and assigns, and every of them, and all and singular 
the said premises, and from and concerning all other bargains, 
sales, joyntures, dowers, titles of dowers, arrearages of rents, 
and of the staple, exec[utive] judgments extents, forfeitures, 
charges, titles, troubles, incumbrances, and demands what- 
soever," etc. 

Elbridge continued to reside at Pemaquid long after 
he had conveyed away all his right in the patent. In his 
conveyances he styled himself " merchant of Pemaquid." 
He was a man of small stature and insignificant appear- 
ance, but ever exerted a mild and beneficial influence in the 
settlement. But he was not permitted to live without mo- 
lestation, for in 1G59, he l)rought two actions against 
George Cleeve, one for defamation and the other for 
assault and battery, on the first of which he recovered fifty 
pounds damages. The result of the other action is not 
stated. He wag still living in 1672, for we find his name 
as the signer of a petition from residents of the place, to 
be taken under the government and protection of Massa- 
chusetts. It is not known whether he had an}^ family, nor 
has the time of his death l)een ascertained. Thomas El- 
bridge, who was a member of the first fire company formed 
in Boston, 1676, may have been the same man. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Wreck of Angel Gabriel at Pemaquicl iu 1635 — Terrible storm with 
unaccountable tidal wave — Crops and trees destroyed — The 
James, companion ship of the Angel Gabriel — Rev. Richard 
Mather — John Cogswell and other passengers on the ship — 
Deposition of William Furber — Bailey, the frightened pas- 
senger — Further account of the shipwreck by Mrs. Martha 
A. Baker a descendant of one of the passengers of the Angel 
Gabriel — This ship was the first one with passengers 
wrecked on the N'ew England coast. 

'HE great storm of August 15, 1635, was probably 

one of the most severe and destructive ever known 

on the coast of New^ England. It ravaged the whole coast 

from Nova Scotia to Manhattan (New York) and probably 

further south. It began early in the morning with the 

wind at the northeast, and continued with great fury five 

of six hours, the tide rising in some places more than 

twenty feet ' right up and down.' According to some of 

the old writers, tire tide not only rose to a ver}^ unusual 

height, but was attended by other peculiar circumstances. 

High tide seems to have occurred about the proper time, 

according to calculation, and was followed by a partial ebb, 

but then immediately succeeded another and unaccountable 

tidal wave, in which the water rose even higher than at first. 

The growing crops everywhere were greatly injured ; and 

the largest trees of the forest, which then covered a large 

part of the surface, were blown down in immense numbers. 

"This storm was very severe at Pemaquid, but we are 

indebted chiefly to a disastrous shipwreck that occurred 

here for what information we have of its ravaijes. June 



58 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

22d, previously, two ships, the Augel Gabriel of two hun- 
dred and forty tons, and carrying sixteen guns, and the 
James of two hundred and twenty tons, sailed together 
from Milford Haven for New England, both bringing pas- 
sengers and supplies for the colonies. They kept together 
for nearly two weeks, but the James, being the best sailer, 
at length lost sight of the other, and proceeded on her voy- 
age. During those two weeks the latter had not spread all 
their sails, so that they ' might not overgo her.' 

"Among the passengers of the James was the Rev. Rich- 
ard Mather and family, the ancestors of Drs. Increase and 
Cotton Mather, and most or all of the name in New Eng- 
land. Both of the ships, besides their passengers, brought 
also cattle and horses and other domestic animals, with the 
necessary supplies for the voyage. Mr. Mather kept a 
diary during the voyage, which was published by Dr. Young 
in his Chronicles of Massachusetts in 1846, after hav- 
ing been kept in manuscript two hundred and eleven years. 
Afterwards it was republished by the Dorchester Antiqua- 
rian and Historical Society. 

"But though the James thus early in the voyage was 
obliged to part with her consort, because of her own fast 
sailing, she did not arrive much in advance of her. The 
great storm of Aug. 15th, found her at anchor at the Isle 
of Shoals ; but having, in the first part of it, lost all her 
anchors, she was obliged to put to sea again, and after a 
very perilous contest with the storm, and having all her 
sails ' rent in sunder and split in pieces, as if they had 
been rotten ragges,' arrived in Boston harbor the next day. 
Mr. Mather ' was exercised ' as he expressed it, at least 
once every Sabbath, during the voyage, and sometimes at 
* both ends of the day.' 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 59 

"The night before the storm, while the James lay at the 
Isle of Shoals, the Angel Gabriel lay also at anchor at 
Pemaquid ; but probably not in the inner harbor, for if she 
had been there, even if her anchors could not hold her, she 
could not have been dashed in pieces, as actually happened. 
One seaman and three or four of the passengers were lost, 
and most of the animals and goods. Of the latter, a part 
was recovered in a damaged state. Among the passengers 
by the Angel Gabriel was Mr. John Cogswell, a London 
merchant, who afterwards established himself in business at 
Ipswich. He was accompanied by three sons and several 
servants, and brought also many valuable households goods. 

•'The following deposition is of interest, as connected 
with the shipwreck. It is contained in the Massachusetts 
Archives, Vol. XXX, p. 535. A quarrel had arisen 
among the sons, or other descendants of Cogswell, which 
found its way into the courts ; and this deposition was 
taken in reference to the trial, and probably was actually 
used. Another deposition of Wm. Furber, also servant of 
Cogswell, was taken the same day, and is of the same char- 
acter. Mass. Archives, Vol. XXXIX, p. 504. 

" The Deposition of William Furber, Sen^, aged 60 years 
or there abouts. 

" This Deponent testifyeth and saith, that in the year of our 
Lord 1635 I the said Deponent did come over in the ship (called 
the Angell Gabriel) along with Mr. John Cogswell Sen^ from 
Old England, and we were cast ashore at Pemnayquid ; and I 
doe remember that there was saved several Casks both of Dry 
Goods and provisions which were marked with Mr. Cogswell 
Sen"". Marks and that there saved a tent of Mr. Cogswell Sen'', 
which he had set up at Pemnaquid, and Lived In it (with the 
goods that he saved in the wracke) and afterwards Mr. Cogswell 
Removed to Ipswich; And in november after that was cast 



60 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

away I the said Deponent Came to Ipswich and found Mr. Cogs- 
well, Sen^ Living there, and hired myself with him for one year ; 
I the said Deponent doe well remember that there were several 
feather beds and I together with Deacon Haines as servants lay 
upon one of them, and there were several dozen of pewter plat- 
ters, and that there were several brass pans besides other pieces 
of pewter and other household goods as Iron Worke and others 
necessary as for house Repairing and have in the house then. I 
the said Deponent doe further testify that there were two maires 
and two Cows brought over in another ship which were landed 
safe ashoare and were kept at niisticke till Mr. Cogswell had y™, 
I doe further testify that my maister, John Cogswell Sen'', had 
three sons which came over along with us in the ship (called the 
Angell Gabriel) the Eldest sonnes name were William, and he 
were about fourteen yeares of age, and the second sonne were 
called John and he was about twelve years of age then, and the 
third Sonne name were Edward which was about six years of age 
at that time, and further saith not. William Furber Sen^ came 
and made oath to all the above written this first of Xber. 
(December) 1676. 

"Before me Richard Martyn, Comis^ 

" A fellow passenger with Mather on the Angel Ga- 
briel, was Bailey, who came over to this country with the 
view of settling here, but left bis wife in the old country, 
until he could first make himself a little acquainted with the 
new country, and provide a suitable place for his family. 
Though he escaped from the wreck unhurt, his mind was 
deeply affected b}' his narrow escape, and he wrote to his 
wife such a doleful account of the storm and shipwreck, 
that she never could be persuaded to undertake the voyage, 
even to join her husband. And he was too timid to risk 
himself again on the stormy Atlantic, they remained separ- 
ate the rest of their lives." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 61 

Another account which has been kindly furnished me 
by Mrs. Martha A. Barker, gives more details of the 
affairs on board the James, the companion ship of the 
Angel Gabriel. From that we learn that the Angel Gabriel 
was built for Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed from Bristol, Eng- 
land, on June the fourth with servants, passengers and five 
of the six daughters of John Cogswell, in addition to the 
three sons mentioned in the above account : she also 
brought farming implements and considerable money and 
that they were twelve weeks and two days on the voyage. 

We are interested in the Rev. Richard Mather, because 
he was a noted divine and his son Increase, once President 
of Harvard College, and to his grandson Cotton, we are in- 
debted for a description of the first stone fort built at Pema- 
quid and for much of the early colonial history of New 
England. The Rev. Dr. Increase Mather states that " The 
Angel Gabriel was the first vessel .which miscarried with 
passengers from Old England to New, so signally did the 
Lord in his providence watch over the plantations of New 
England." That seems the more remarkable when we con- 
sider that there were no lighthouses, buoys or beacons to 
guide the mariner clear of the sunken rocks or through 
safe channels to the harbors as we have to-day. It seems 
to indicate that they had good ships and knew well how to 
manage them. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Trouble for Pemaquid settlers — Treaty of St. Germain — Disputes 
about the boundary lines here — Pemaquid claimed as part of 
Acadia — Pemaquid settlers between two fires — Their affair 
managed with great skill — Purchasing cattle at Pemaquid in 
1640 by Massachusetts Colonies — Two unprincipled French- 
men, La Tour and D'Aulney — Quarrel between them which 
affected Pemaquid for twelve years — Capture of New Eng- 
land vessel by D'Aulney and ill-treatment of the crew — Hero- 
ic defense of Fort by Madame La Tour, against D'Aulney — 
English soldiers put on shore and abandoned — Death of 
D'Aulney — Eeturn of his enemy and rival. La Tour to Cas- 
tine, and marriage to his widow; a strange event. 



U 



WO events occurred in 1635 w^iich caused uneasiness 
in all the New England colonies : the surrender of 
the charter of the Plymouth (Eng.) Council (consisting of 
forty noblemen and gentlemen of England) ; and the con- 
tinued encroachments of the French from the eastward." 

This territory was not divided, as to-day, into states, 
counties and towns. The rulers of England and France, 
when they gave their subjects titles to this territory, often 
overlapped each other. When their subjects came here a 
dispute arose about the boundaries. The English had 
established as far east as Castine and Machias, but their 
trading posts were broken up by the French who became 
so bold as to claim all the territory along the coast to Cape 
Cod. They claimed all the territory of Pemaquid as a part 
of Acadia. They fortified Castine and held it against an 
armed ship. 

"In this aflair," says Prof. Johnson, "the Pemaquid 
settlers found themselves between two fires, for while the 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 63 

French on one hand, were threatening to displace them as 
intruders, on the other hand, Gov. Bradford of Plymouth 
complained that they ' filled ye Indians with guns and 
munishtion to the great danger of ye English,' and kept 
both the French and Indians informed of what was passing 
among the colonists. Their position was exceedingly criti- 
cal, but their affairs seem to have been managed with great 
skill and moderation ; so that if they did not altogether 
please the three parties, viz., the English colonies west of 
of them, the French at the east, or the native Indians, in 
their midst, they at least gave mortal oiFense to none. 
As a natural result, they for many years enjoyed a good 
degree of prosperity, and the population of the place rap- 
idly increased. Gov. Winthrop, in a very incidental 
manner, affords us some evidence of the prosperity of the 
place, in the month of May, 1640. ' Joseph Grafton set 
sail from Salem, the second day in the morning, in a ketch 
of about forty tons, (three men and a boy in her) and 
arrived at Pemaquid (the wind easterly) upon the third day 
(Tuesday) in the morning, and then took in some twenty 
cows, oxen, etc., with hay and oats for them, and came to 
an anchor in the bay the 6th day about three afternoon.' 

"This was making good despatch, but the voyage could 
very easily be accomplished in the time mentioned, if the 
vessel was only a moderately good sailer, and the wind 
favorable both going and returning. 

" In 1636, cows sold in Massachusetts as high as 
twenty-five and even thirty pounds a head, and oxen at 
forty pounds per pair, but after this the price was lower." 

Two vigorous but unprincipled Frenchmen, one named 
Charles Etienne La Tour, a professed Protestant, and 
M. D'Aulney de Charnisse a catholic, for twelve years 
caused trouble at Pemaquid. The former took Machias 



64 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

and the latter captured Castine by strategy. These two 
men had been granted titles to much land at Acadia. On 
the death of Gen. Razilly, their superior commander, a 
rivalry sprung up between them which soon became a bitter 
quarrel, that threatened all the English settlements on the 
coast. 

D'Aulney confided in the French government for 
assistance, and his rival in the Protestant colonics along the 
coast. The king of France, Louis XIV, authorized 
D'Aulney to arrest La Tour and send him back a prisoner 
to France. This order intensified the strife and they 
fought like two independent chieftains. In 1641 La Tour 
by his agent applied to Massachusetts for aid against his 
rival, who carried a letter of introduction from Abraham 
Shurte of Pemaquid. He finally got permission to hire 
ships and enlist men at his own expense, and secured four 
ships and one hundred forty-two men as sailors and sol- 
diers, but the English colony being a government not wish- 
ing to incur the displeasure of D'Aulney, would not openly 
assist him though they sympathized with him. La Toul' 
was established at St. John and D'Aulney at Castine, and 
kept up their struggle. 

In the spring of 1645 D'Aulney learned that La Tour 
was absent from his garrison ; he proceeded then to attack 
it. On the way he met a New England vessel and made a 
prize of her in utter disregard of a treaty he had just made 
with the English colonists, turned the crew ashore on a 
distant island without food or suitable clothing. On arriv- 
ing at St. John he bombarded the fort, but Madame La 
Tour who had command during her husband's absence, 
made such spirited resistance that he was obliged to retire, 
his ship being badly damaged, with twenty of his men 
killed and thirteen wounded. On his return, a wiser, if 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 65 

not a better man, he took aboard the men he had put 
ashore on the island, who had remained there ten days in 
great suffering and gave them an old shallop to return in, 
but without restoring any of their property. 

Finally this miserable quarrel was brought to a close. 
In April, 1647, D'Aulney again suddenly made his appear- 
ance at St. John and attacked the fort with so much energy 
that he soon gained possession of it, making Madame La 
Tour and the whole garrison prisoners, and appropriating 
to himself all of La Tour's effects of every kind, which was 
not less than ten thousand pounds. 

Madame La Tour, in the absence of her husband, had 
command of the fort, and, as on a former, similar occasion, 
defended it with great vigor, killing and wounding many 
of D'Aulney's men, but the latter, having gained some 
advantage, oiFered favorable terms. She was induced to 
capitulate, surrendering everything into the hands of her 
adversary. As soon as possession of the fort had been 
gained, D'Aulney, utterly disregarding the promises he had 
made, in accordance with his base nature, put the whole 
garrison to death, except one man, and compelled Madame 
La Tour herself, with a rope around her neck, to be 
present at the execution. This lady, exhausted by the 
heroic exertions she had made in defending the fort, and 
stung to madness by the wrongs and indignities she was 
made to suffer, died three weeks after the surrender of the 
fort. 

Her husband, now reduced to poverty, was left a wan- 
derer and an exile. At this time La Tour owed consider- 
able sums to individuals in Massachusetts, to whom much 
of his property in Nova Scotia was mortgaged, one man 
alone, by name of Gibbons, having a claim of more than 
£2,500. The prospects of ever collecting their dues were 



66 TEN YEAES AT PEMAQUID. 

now small. La Tour in despair now made application for 
aid to his former friend, Sir David Kirk of Newfoundland, 
but without effect. He then turned again to Massachu- 
setts, where he found some men of wealth who, still having 
confidence in his integrity, furnished him with a vessel and 
goods to the value of £400, for a trading excursion among 
the Indians at the east. 

Arriving at Cape Sable, he developed his true charac- 
ter as a low scoundrel and hypocrite, by entering into a 
conspiracy with a part of his crew, who were Frenchmen, 
to put ashore the others who were English, and take pos- 
session of the vessel and cargo as their own. The men, 
thus put ashore in the depth of winter, in a destitute condi- 
tion, were, after much suflering, relieved by a party of 
Mickmack Indians, who kindly aided them in returning to 
their homes. La Tour and his confederates, now regular 
pirates, it is believed, sailed farther east to Hudson's Bay ; 
but nothing is known of their doings. D'Aulney died in 
1651, which opened a way for La Tour's return to the 
scene of his former exploits. 

The ferocious contest between these two unscrupulous 
rivals, raged with more or less violence for twelve years, 
and produced efiects not a little detrimental to the settle- 
ment at Pemaquid, and all others on the coast. Sometimes 
enormous wrongs were committed on innocent people, 
living in the neighborhood, by their exploits ; angry men- 
aces occasionally thrown out, could not ])ut excite the 
apprehensions of the persons living so near as Pemaquid. 

But stranger things connected with this affair remain 
yet to be mentioned. La Tour, after his return, made love 
to the widow of his late hated rival, D'Aulney ; and they 
were actually married, and lived together many years, 
several children being born to them. All his former pos- 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 67 

sessions in Nova Scotia were now resumed by him, and a 
singular prosperity marked the latter years of his life : but 
it is added, in the history of the time, that in all his 
prosperity he did not remember his friends in Massachu- 
setts, who aided him in the days of his adversity and trial, 
so much as to pay them the money he owed them. So 
singular a termination to such a bitter and protracted 
contest exceeds the limits of ordinary romance ; and one 
scarcely knows whether it should be contemplated as be- 
lon^ino; "to the sublime or ridiculous, to the romantic or 
the disgusting." 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

Pemaquid under the Duke of York — The first Indian War at Pern- 
aquid called King Philip's War — Expedition sent from New 
York to build a strong redoubt called Fort Charles — Anthony 
Brockholls first commander of the Port — Pemaquid made the 
trading place of all this region — First liquor laws of the 
state published here at Pemaquid — Quaint laws made at the 
Fort to govern trade and intercourse with the Indians and 
others. All vessels required to enter and clear at the Pema- 
quid Custom House — Civil officers to the government, Henry 
Joslin and others. — Petition of the inhabitants of the Gover- 
nor at New York requesting that Pemaquid may remain the 
Metropolis — Royal order for the surrender of Pemaquid to 
Massachusetts — An account of vessels dispatched from New 
York for Boston and Pemaquid. 

1664 - 1686. 

/^EVERAL years ago, while hunting in an old bookstore 
€^ at Boston, I fortunately secured a copy of a vol- 
ume ol records pertaining to Pemaquid, compiled by 
Franklin B. Hough. In 1664, the Duke of York re- 
ceived from his brother. King Charles, a grant of the 
territory of New York, including Martha's Vineyard and 
Nantucket, and also the territory in Maine extending from 
the St. Croix to the Kennebec. The latter was named 
Cornwall. The governors appointed to rule over the terri- 
tory being located at New York, seem not to have given 
much attention to this part of their possessions until 
after the terrible war of King Philip began in 1676. 

The first fierce Indian war which burst with fury upon 
Pemaquid and the neighboring settlements in 1676, was a 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 69 

part of the same great struggle which the year before raged 
in Massachusetts and is known in history as King Philip's 
war. A full half century had elapsed since the settlement 
at Pemaquid was begun. Then begun that fearful struggle 
for the existence of each nation, the echoes of which have 
been handed down to us to this day by tradition. 

When wild the war-whoop clave the quivering air, 
With crash of cannon and the trumpet's clang, 

When wails of woman and the voice of prayer 
With moans of death through fair Mavooshen rang. 

The frantic mother wept and prayed in vain, 

While savage hands the smiling infant slew, 
And burning ruin smoked along the plain, 

So wild, so sharp, the fiendish warfare grew; 
And o'er the sea the darkening horror swept, 

Where flame-wreathed vessels battled all in vain, 
And o'er the land pale Fear with Famine crept, 

Dark Desolation's slow and silent train. 

Then sad and lingering was the sure decay, 

That dragged the dying city to its doom. 
Till this fair valley where we walk to-day. 

From hill to river, blossoms o'er a tomb; 
The happy homes so bright, so full of song. 

Lie mouldering here beneath the crumbling clay; 
The happy hearts, with faith and courage strong. 

Sleep on beside them, cold and still as they. 

M. W. Hackelton. 

They first begun here by gratifying their revenge, but 
ended in an indiscriminate slaughter of friends as well as 
foes. The Indian depredation began September 20, 1675, 
against the settlers for undertaking to deprive them of their 
guns and ammunition to prevent them from using them 
against the whites ; they resented this because they had be- 
come so accustomed to the use of the musket as to be 
largely dependent upon it for obtaining their daily food. 

Some have doubted whether the outbreak of the east- 
ern Indians had any connection with King Philip's war but 
the connection of the two is too plain to need argument. 



70 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

In the course of the war, several Narragansett Indians were 
actually captured in arms with their brethren at the east. 

" On June 13, 1677, Gov. Andros of N. York, sent 
four good sloops here loaded with lumber and other materi- 
al for a strong Redoubt. Lieu. Anthony Brockholls, Ensign 
Cesar Knapton, and Mr. M. Nickolls had command of the 
expedition. On their arival they prosceeded to erect the 
fortification and named it Fort Charles." 

The fortifications erected at this time consisted of " a 
wooden Redout w^^^ two guns aloft and an outworke with 
two Bastions in each of w*^^ two greatt guns, and one att 
y® Gate ; fifty souldiers w*^' sufiicient ammuuicon, stores of 
warre, and spare arms, victualled for about eight months, 
and his Royi^ Highness sloope w*^^ four gunns to attend 
y^ Coast and fishery." 

This wooden fort or redoubt occupied very nearly the 
same site as those erected subsequently, but was situated a 
little east of the rock, as will hereafter appear. Capt. 
Anthony Brockholls and Ensign Ca?sar Knapton were put in 
command of the fort and settlements, with a company of 
fifty soldiers. They called the place Jamestown in honor 
of the king, James II. As soon as the duke's government 
was established, orders were at once o;iven for the rejjula- 

' 

tion of trade and nearly all of the other affairs of the settle- 
ment. All questions of disagreement between the inhabi- 
tants and fishermen to be referred to a justice of the peace, 
an appeal being allowed in important cases to the governor 
at New York. 

At a Councell Sept. 27, 1677, Held at New York, The 
Orders and Directions were made for the Commander of Pema- 
quid as follows : 

The trading place to be at Pemaquid and no where else. 



TEN TEARS AT PEIVIAQUID. 71 

All entryes to bee made at New Yorke and no Coasters or 
Interlopers allowed, but if any found to be made prise. 

Liberty of stages upon the fishing Islands but not upon the 
Maine, except at Pemaquid near the fort. 

The Indyans not to goe to ye fishing Islands. 

No rum to bee dranke on that side the ffort stands. 

No man to trust any Indyans. 

Traders from New York were allowed to establish 
houses in the place, but only near the fort and on a street 
of good breadth leading directly from the Fort to the nar- 
rowest part of the neck or point of land the Fort stands 
upon, going to the great neck towards New Harbor. 

All trade to be in the said Street, in or afore the houses, 
between sun and sun, for which the drum to beate, or bell ring 
every morning and evening, and neither Indyan nor Christian 
suffered to drinke any strong drinks nor lye ashore in the night, 
&c. 

No Indyans nor Christians to be Admitted att any time 
within the Fort except some few upon occasion of businesse 
below, but none to goe up into the Redout, &c. 

Fishermen giving notice to the Fort to have all Liberty of 
taking their fish on the fishing Islands, or neare and under pro- 
tection of the Fort. 

If Occasion one or more Constables to be appointed for the 
fishing Islands, and Indyans to have equal Justice and Dispatch. 

Fishermen to come to Pemaquid yearly to renew their 
Engagen and not to splitt or fling out their Gurry on the fishing 
grounds, or to trade with the Indyans to the prejudice of the 
fishery and hazard of these part. 

Any Trader or other trusting an Indyan or Indyans except 
for dry provissings, or adulterating Rumme or strong drinke by 
mixing water or otherwise, to forfet the same to the party 
trusted or buying, and be lyable to further censure as the Case 
may require and the forfeiture of the remaining part of such 



72 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

strong Liquor to be to Commander, satisfying or paying the 
informer. 

Land to bee given out indifferently to those that . shall come 
and settle, but no trade to bee at any place than Pemaqxiid, and 
none at all with the Indyans as formerly ordered. 

It shall not be Lawful for any Vessels crew that belongeth not 
to the Government to make a voyage in the Government, 
except he hath an house or stage within the Government on 
penalty of forfeiture of paying for making his voyage. 

It shall not be lawful for fishermen to keep ' any more 
dogges than one to a family on such penalty and forfeiture as 
shall be thought fitt by you [Capt. of the Fort.] 

No coasting vessels shall trade on the Cost as Bum boats 
tradeing from Harbor to Harbor, but as shall supply the Gen- 
erall account for one boat or more, neither shall it be lawful for 
him to trade in any other Harbor, but where the boat or 
boats are, neither, shall it be lawful for him to trade with any 
other crew for liquors or wine, Bumm, Beer, Sider, &c., on 
such penalty as you [Capt. of Fort] think fitting. 

All vessells out of any Government if they come to trade or 
fish shall first enter at Pemaquid, or the places appointed, and 
they shall not go in any other Harbor, except by stress of 
weather. No stragling farmes shall be erected, nor no houses 
built any where under the number of twenty. 

The above extracts from orders issued at diiferent 
times show the general character of many more sent here 
for the military government of this place. The ruler of 
England, James II., and the Duke of York, were working 
through their agent, Sir Edmond Andros, to bring the col- 
onists more fully under their control and make them pay 
more tribute to the crown. Thej^ also meant to punish the 
other New England colonies, by excluding them from trade 
with the Indians, or taking fish on the coast except by pay- 
ment of tribute at the Pemaquid custom house. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 73 

In December, 1680, Thomas Sharp was appointed Cap- 
tain of the Fort, and Francis Skinner August 30, 1681. 
Other officers, civil and military, were appointed from 
time to time by the governor. Among the names we find 
Henry Jocelyn was chosen "to bee Justice of the Peace 
in Corum " [Quorum]. Other justices in Cornwall were 
John Dollin, Lawrence Dennis, John Jourdain, Kichard 
Redding, John Allen, Thomas Giles or [Gyles], Alex- 
ander Waldorp, Thomas Sharp, Richard Pattishall, Nich- 
olas Manning, Giles Goddard, Ceasor Knapton, John 
West and Elihu Gunnison. Sheriffs, constables, and 
other officers were appointed but their names are not pre- 
served with those above. 

Many letters and documents, contained in that volume 
of ancient records are interesting. One letter to the com- 
mander of the fort speaks of sending thirty pounds to buy 
a sailing shallop, and cautions him to " Take care to keepe 
the platforme in the fort in good repaire w^i^ I judge you 
doe by wattering or throwing stuff e or earth thereupon." 
The details for care of guns, store, traffic with the natives, 
etc., are wonderful accounts of what was to be forwarded 
to Gov. Andros. One letter from Capt. BrockhoUs dated 
New York, May 10th, 1683, to Mr. Francis Skinner reads : 

J am sorry the loossness and carelessness of your command 
gives oppertunity for strangers to take notice of your extravi- 
ganyes and Debaucheryes and that complaints must come to me 
thereoff being what your Office and Place ought to prevent and 
punish. Expect a better observance and comporte for the 
future and that Swearing, Drinking and profaneness to much 
practised and Suffered with you will be wholly Suppressed and 
that you have Regard to all former Orders and Regulations. 

Your Affectionate friend, 

A. B. 



74 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Col. Thomas Dongan was appointed to succeed Andros 
in 1682, and arrived in this country in August, 1683. A 
long petition was soon sent to him by the inhabitants of 
a part of Cornwall containing eight articles and reciting 
their grievances under Andros and praying for relief. 
It was signed by eighteen persons. 

Also a petition directly relating to this locality was 
sent in this form ; — 

"To the Right honerable Governor and Council of Assembly 
of New Yoi'ke. The humble Petition of New Harbor humbly 
sheweth : That, whereas yor j^etitioners have been at great 
charge in buikling their habitations, and as yet have noe assur- 
ance of either house lots or the bounds of our place, which 
is a hindrance to our conveniencyes of planting or making an 
improvement, etc. We humbly [pray] that there may be 
surveyors appointed for tliat purpose to lay out lands ; Hkewise 
the * * * of these customs may be taken off, because it 
never used to be paid by any ffisherman in this world as we 
know of, and it hinders the coasters comming to us to bring our 
supplies, and when they do come, the very name of these 
customs makes them sell their goods almost as dear again as 
formerly they used, so that we finde it to be to all the countrye 
a grevious burden and to all the people called fishermen an 
utter ruin. 

AXD THAT PeMAQUID MAY STILL KEMAIN THE METROPOL- 
ITAN OF THESE PARTS, BECAUSE IT EVER HAVE BEEN SO BEFORE 

Boston "was settled. Wherfore your honers poor petitioners 
humbly desire that the honorable Governor and Councell would 
please to take the premises into your pious consideration, to 
order and confirm the lots, bounds and limits of this place to be 
laid out, and that we may enjoy the labors of our hands and 
have it for our children after us, and also that the customs may 
be taken of, and raised some other way, and that Pemaqidd may 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 75 

he the metropolitan place ^ and your honers petitioners as in duty 
bound shall ever pray. 

Per order of the inhabitants, 

Wm. Sturt, Toion Clerk at Pemaquid. 

By the following orders sent here by Governor Don- 
gan to Capt. Nicholas Manning, the "Sub-Collector, Sur- 
veyor, &c., for these parts," the earliest stringent liquor 
laws of Maine must have been enforced at Old Pemaquid. 
Amono; fourteen articles for the government of the fisheries 
collections of *' quit rents," customs, etc., the seventh and 
eighth articles read as follows ; 

7thly. You are to goe into y*^ house & Cellar of any p'^son 
or p'sons whatsoever where y*' suspect there is any wine or other 
liquors & Syder that shall be by them sold & retailed. You are 
alsoe to goe into their Cellars & houses as afores** as yo" shall see 
Cause to p'vent all fraud & Imbezellment of his Ma''^^ Revenue. 

8thly. You are not to suffer any Vessell whatsoever to goe 
into or up Kenebeque River or any parte thereof until they 
have first made their entry with yo" at Jamestown & payed his 
Ma''*"' Dews & if any shall j^resume to doe y* Contrary y° are to 
Cause both vessell & Goods to be Seized & proceeded ags' by 
Law as directed for defrauding his Ma''*" of his Customes. And 
that all Vessells tradeing into any porte River or place doe 
Enter & Cleere with yo" before there departure und"^ the like 
pains & forteitures. 

lOthly. You are not to suffer any p^son or p''sons to sell 
any sort of Liquors by retaile in any part or place within 
y* s*^ County but such as shall obtaine Lycence from yo'selfe & 
shall pay such sume of mony for ye Same as yo" shall think fitt 
to agree for & not lesse than 12' for Each Lycence g'^ted and of 
y' monys on that behalfe received yo" are to Render a p''ticular 
ac' to y^ Gov' as opportunity p'sents. 

When at the death of Charles II. the Duke of York 
became King James II., changes of government occurred 



76 TEN TEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

by which was established "the territory and dominion of 
New England." Then for convenience Pemaquid was de- 
tached from New York and annexed to Massachusetts. 

The following " Royal Order" directs this transfer of 
jurisdiction. 

James R. 

Trusty & well beloved wee Greet you well. Whereas 
wee have thought fitt to direct that our ffort & Country of 
Pemaquid in regard of its distance from New Yorke bee for the 
future annexed to & Continvaed under the Governm' of our terri- 
tory & dominion of New England our will & pleasure is that 
you forthwith Deliver or cause to be delivered our said ffort & 
Country of Pemaqiiid with the Greate Gunns, ammunicon & 
stores of warr together with all other utensills & appurtennces 
belonging to the said ffort into the hands of our trusty and 
welbeloved S' Edmund Andross Knight our Captaine Generall 
& Governour in chiefe of our territory & dominion of New 
England or to the Governor or Commander in Chiefe there for 
the time being or to such person or persons as they shall Im- 
power to receive the same and for soe doing this shall be your 
warr . 

Given at our Court at windsor this 19th day of Sepf, 1686 
& in the second yeare of our Reigne. 

By his Ma''^' Command, 

Sunderland, Cl. [Clerk] 

The following note was printed below this order : 

The Great Guns from the fort at Pemaquid, after being 
carried to Boston, were by order of the King in the spring of 
1691, transferred to New York. (N. Y. Coll. MSS. xxxvii.) 

(Under the heading of " Passes " we find the following 
list of vessels that were granted dispatch to sail for Pema- 
quid.) 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 77 

[Pass Book IV.] 

Dispatch granted to the Barke EUzabeth Alizander Wood- 
rop Master bound for Pemaquid November y*" 29th 83. 

Dispatch granted to the sloope Happy Retiirne, James 
Barry Commander for Pemaquid & New found Land Aprill 26th 
1684. 

Despatch granted to the Sloope Blossom Stephen Heacock 
Comander for Pemaquid May the 22d 1685. 

Despatch granted to the Sloope Prinrose John Eurest 
Master for Stratford and off Pemaquid New York July the 4th 
1685. 

Despatch granted to the sloope Lewis Frances Bassett 
Comander for Pemaquid & New found Land [Sept. 4 (?) 1685.] 

Despatch granted to the Sloope Adventurer Thomas 
Brookes Commander for Boston & Pemaquid, June 19th 1686. 

Lucas Andries Ma" of the sloop Elias enters the s*^ sloop for 
Pemaquid with Contents of Loading. [June 20, 1681.] 

Lawrence Sluce Enters the sloop Hopewell himself Master 
ffor Pemaquid with Contents of Loading. [Sept. 10, 1681.] 

Stephen Hiskott ma"^ of the Sloop Blossome Enters the 
s^ Sloope for Pemaquid with Contents of Loading. [Oct. 21, 
1681.] 



PART II. 
RELICS OF PEMAQUID. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 
ACCOUNT OF RELICS FOUND HERE. 

A list of ruins found on this Historical Peninsula — Relics here not 
like the ruins of Eastern lands — All places of historic 
interest marked by the people of Massachusetts; but neglected 
here — Where have we one Monument to mark a spot where 
settled any of the early Colonists, within the border of our 
State? — Col. Dickey's remark about the interest of our citi- 
zens in anything ancient — What summer visitors have done 
for Fort Edgecomb — Capt. George Johnson and Mrs. Maria 
W. Hackelton. 

/^OME years ago I published a small circular containing 

r^ a list of the most important places and objects of 

interest which I had been able to trace out and obtain 

information about, over the ruins of this little historic 

peninsula. Having had further time to gather information 

from outside sources and personal examination here, I will 

try to give the reader the benefit of my researches. 

I hope that no one who reads this account or comes 

here for investigation will be impressed with the idea that 

here are to be found grand old ruins of some great city like 

those of eastern lands where nations have risen, flourished 

and decayed; leaving behind them, 

Storied columns in massive grandeur piled, 
Above and underneath the soil, in ruin wild. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 79 

Here we have only the footprints of a nation's begin- 
ning. All along our seacoast those footprints can be 
found from this place to Jamestown, Virginia, spots where 
colonists found a stepping stone to rest upon after crossing 
the western ocean, and from which they have taken long 
and rapid strides until they have reached the broad Pacific 
Ocean. 

Not all historic events of great importance have any 
relics left to mark where they occurred. Just where 
Columbus landed is not known to-day yet a World's Fair 
celebrated the event. 

Massachusetts, after nobly marking all her well known 
places of historic interest, starts out to mark with cairns 
historic spots where once stood some of her noted citizens 
to watch an important event. No wonder her children 
know the history of their State, and it must be admitted 
that ours of old Maine learn more of theirs than of their 
own from history. 

What have we of old Maine done to preserve our 
ancient history, and mark our spots of historic interest? 
Why Col. Dickey once at the State House at Augusta 
when I inquired if he knew of any one there interested in 
ancient history, answered, " No ! I never saw any one here 
that was interested in anything ancient ;" said he, " I had 
hard work to get an appropriation to save our old block 
house at Fort Kent." 

When I first came here to reside at the Jamestown 
Hotel I met Capt. George Johnston, who then boarded 
there with his daughter, Mrs. Addie Partridge, wife of the 
proprietor. Capt. Johnston for many years followed the 
sea, and during the latter part of his life took much inter- 
est in all the schools of our town and in all good work of 
Christianity and education. He loaned me two excellent 



80 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

books containing much information about this locality ; the 
"History of Bristol and Bremen" and a poem by Mrs. 
Maria W. Hackelton, entitled "Jamestown of Pemaquid." 
Those two books gave me an inspiration to investigate the 
hidden mysteries of Old Pemaquid, which has never died 
out and I trust never will until with the kind assistance of 
others, we shall be able to show to our own citizens and to 
the world that Old Pemaquid was once of some account. I 
once heard a visitor say that " Pemaquid was of no account 
because it was not a permanent settlement." I trust that 
I may be able to prove that his remark was not correct. 




PEMAQUID HARBOR, ME. 

Site of Old Fort Win. Henrv (built in 1692), Old Fort Hou.se, and other .summer 
resorts seen across the mouth of the Pemaquid river. 




THE OLD FORT HOUSE, BARN AND TABLET. 

Tablet presented by J. \V. Pen'nky, Mechanic Falls, Maine. 

Inscription on T.\blet. 

"A large number of cannon balls fell in this locality during: the bombardment 

of Fort William Henry by the French, August 15, 1696. Erected by the Pemaquid 

Improvement Association, August 15, i8g6." 



CHAPTEE XV. 
OLD FORT ROCK AND HOUSE. 

The Old Fort Eock — Excellent panoramic view from the top of 
it — Small miisenm of the Pemaquid Improvement Associa- 
tion — Plan of the Old Fort obtained from the public records 
of London, England, portraits of the builders and a copy of 
the first deed ever jiroperly executed in America — The foun- 
dation walls of the old castle about the Eock, and remains of 
magazine recently excavated — The old Fort House or man- 
sion as it was formerly called — Other objects of interest on 
the site of the old ■ settlement — When was the Old Mansion 
built ? — Information obtained about the old house from pro- 
bate records by will of Commander Alexander Nichols — In- 
formation obtained by Capt. Thomas Nichols and his sister — 
Changes made at the old house by taking down the chimneys, 
removing partitions, re-clapboarding and putting in new win- 
dows — Its wooden walls interlined with brick — Slaves kept 
at the fort house — Different owners — Mr. James W. Part- 
ridge and family — The first Postmaster of Pemaquid Beach — 
Visitors and social parties at the old house — A story illus- 
trating the generosity of Mr. Partridge — An abundance 
of the comforts of life — Sailing and fishing parties were en- 
joyed down the bay — Trick played on Mr. George N. Lewis 
by some mischievous boys — Capture of a Partridge at the 
old fort house by Mr. Dodge. 

mo visitor to Ancient Pemaquid should fail to stand 
upon the top of the Old Fort Rock in close prox- 
imity to the steamer landing and "Old Fort House," which 
is the best locality to obtain a fine panoramic view of the 
Pemaquid river, both harbors, the fields, bay, and ocean, 
also the site of the ancient settlements and forts here and 
across the river. 

All are welcomed to the small museum of the Pema- 
quid Improvement Association, located between the two 



82 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

white towers seen in front of the rock. At the entrance, 
they are shown cannon balls and other relics excavated 
about the old fort ruins ; plans with description of one of 
the forts erected here, which has recently been obtained 
from the public records of London, England ; portraits of 
the builders and a copy of the first deed ever properly 
executed in America. There is also a showcase containing 
choice souvenir china, glassware, photographs and other 
articles to exhibit and for sale. 

A book is kept for visitors to register, and the man- 
agers are always read}^ to impart information about the 
place to those desiring it. All who desire a guide to show 
them the many choice relics in the rear of the building, the 
foundation walls of the old castle about the Rock, and mag- 
azine recently excavated by the Pemaquid Improvement 
Association, and to point out the various places of interest 
in the vicinity, are admitted to the enclosure about the 
Rock on payment of a small fee to the attendants to cover 
expenses. 

The great square mansion called the " Old Fort 
House," crowns the highest part of the peninsula. As we 
gaze from our positions on the top of the great rock and the 
decks of steamers, it is seen the most conspicuous object 
upon it. The great barn adjoining the house, the Old Fort 
Rock of Pemaquid with its flagstaflf now carrying the 
American colors, over ground where once floated, first the 
English and then the French flags, are objects of interest. 

Between this Rock and village, looms up the James- 
town Hotel. At the east end of the peninsula a rough 
stone wall encloses a part of what Mrs. Hackelton in her 
poem calls " a field of graves." A canning factory with its 
long wharf is located on the river bank. Some depressions 
are seen here and there where cellars have not been entirely 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 83 

filled up, also nearly a level field some twenty or thirty feet 
above high water mark, sloping every way to its water 
boundary. 

On this peninsula which was once the busy metropolis 
of New England, I have been able to trace about forty of 
the three hundred cellars which were counted here in 1835. 
Here near the mouth of this river, by our Rock of Pema- 
quid, is the spot where Capts. Popham and Gilbert landed 
with fifty of their people, August 10th, 1G07 ; there they 
were met by Nahanada, the chieftain of this place, with 
one hundred of his dusky warriors with drawn bows and 
arrows who welcomed them to this country. 

To find out when that old mansion was built, has been 
one of my puzzles about this place for the last decade. 
Soon after coming to Pemaquid in 1888, a lady named 
Mrs. Mahala Paul, nearly ninety years of age, then visiting 
here from Boston, who was born at Pemaquid Point, in- 
formed me that it was built by Col. David Dunbar. By 
referring to Prof. Johnson's history, I find that Dunbar 
came here in 1729 to rebuild Fort Frederic on the ruins 
of Fort William Henry, the first stone fort here erected by 
Phips. If her account is correct, the old house would now 
be about one hundred and seventy years old. 

I am indebted to Mr. James H. Varney, Registrar of 
Deeds at Wiscasset, Maine, for much valuable information 
concerning this place. 

From the Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 
1760-1800, V. 18, P. 169. 

In the name of GOD amen. I Alexander Nickols of 
Bristol in the County of Lincoln Esquire, considering the uncer- 
tainty of this mortal life, and being of soiind and perfect mind, 
blessed be almighty GOD for the same. Do make and publish 
this my last Will and testament in manner and form following 
that is to say, First, — ****** 



84 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Then follows details of property willed to his wife and 
other members of his family, and to his youngest son the 
following : 

I also give and bequeath to my youngest son John and 
his Heirs and Assigns All that my Mansion house, barn, build- 
ings, and tenements situate lying and being at Pemaquid Old 
Fort, in Bristol afore said, with all ray other lands in lots or 
parcels situate lying and being there at or there abouts. ****** 

i Sallie Simbnton" 
Witness-^ Ezra Poland 

( Robert McLintock 

Probated 2 July, 1799. 

From Capt. Thomas Nichols and his sister Deborah 
Morton, of Round Pond, I have gained much information 
about the old house and its occupants. Capt. John 
Nichols and family occupied the place till about 1840. 
He was the grandson of Capt. Alexander Nichols who held 
a lieutenant's commission and was sent to command Fort 
Frederic about 1750, and is supposed to have been the last 
commander of the forts here. Alexander Jr., commanded 
a militia company during the time of the French and Indi- 
an war; after the war was over [1759] he settled at Pem- 
aquid, and by the above will conveyed the old mansion to 
Capt. John, which brings its history down where we can 
trace it to date. 

Capt. Nichols informed me that the old house was not 
square originally ; the front was the same shape as now, 
extending back about two-thirds the present size, which can 
be seen by the sills and foundations of the original chimneys, 
one of solid stone, the other containing a great archway, 
such as were used by the farmers many years ago for storing 
vegetables during the winter time. Four great fireplaces, 
which consumed an abundance of wood, supplied heat for 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 85 

cooking and comfort for all its inmates during the winter 
time. 

This house has been changed over so much, both inside 
and out, that it now presents little of its former appear- 
ance. The two original chimneys were taken down about 
1860, leaving space enough for four good sized rooms on 
the two stories where they with their fireplaces, ovens, ash- 
pits, etc., were located. New windows have taken the 
place of the old ones which formerly admitted light for the 
interior, through green tinted seven by nine panes of 
glass. The old substantial blinds are gone, the fancy caps 
and fluted casings that once ornamented the doorways 
have given place to plainer finish. 

Relic hunters began the change on the outside some 
years ago by pulling out many of the hand-made nails which 
secured the weather-beaten, rift and scarfed clapboards to 
the upright planking, and they had to be replaced with new- 
modern clapboards and nails. 

When it was repaired a few years ago, it was found 
that planks one and one-half inches thick were used instead 
of boards to cover the walls and were secured with hand 
made spikes to the solid frame ; they were placed upright 
instead of horizontal as to day ; every seam was covered 
with wide strips of birch bark instead of prepared paper as 
used now. The space between the boarding and planking 
was found to be filled with brick and mortar, no doubt, to 
prevent the bullets of the Indians from penetrating the 
walls. 

Capt. Nichols drew for me a plan of a long rambling 
ell which once led oft' at a right angle with the main house 
toward the barn facing to the southwest, and was conven- 
iently divided into small rooms for different purposes. 



86 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Capt. Nichols fell in love with a fair damsel who re- 
sided there when he was young, and his eyes brightened 
with pleasure as he related the story of many happy days 
and evenings passed with her by the open fireside of the 
old mansion and of the jolly sleighing parties they enjoyed 
in winter wdien they had no occasion to return home at an 
early hour. She owned the odd name of Zubah Blake, but 
afterward consented to have it changed to Nichols. 

The next owner of the old house was Mr. Samuel P. 
Blaisdell, who came into possession of it about 1840, and 
carried on the occupation of farming. He was an uncle 
of Mr. Calvin C. Robbins now of Bristol Mills, but who 
formerly resided here. I am indebted to him for much 
valuable and authentic information about the old fort foun- 
dations, pavings, cannon balls and other relics to be men- 
tioned in another chapter. . 

Col. James Erskine of Bristol Mills, purchased the old 
homestead of Mr. Blaisdell about 1845, but never came 
here to reside. He sold it to Mr. James W. Partridge, who 
moved here from the upper part of the town on January 
11, 1847. There was then only one other house in sight, 
and the old mansion had the reputation of being haunted. 
The farm then included, with the Fort field and site of 
the old settlement, over four hundred acres, that part on 
Pemaquid Point being covered with a fine growth of wood, 
principally spruce. 

Mr. Partridge and wife Sarah P. (formerly Erskine) 
occupied the place till his death on August 14, 1888. 
They reared a large and honorable family, three of whom 
reside here and three who have sought a home and business 
elsewhere. Their oldest boy, Eben H., died when quite 
young and the oldest daughter, Jennie E., who was the 
beloved wife of Mr. Nathan George Lewis of this place, 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 87 

died June 11, 1895. She had the honor of beinfj the first 
postmaster of Pemaquid Beach and received the respect 
and confidence of all who knew her. 

Hundreds of pleasant stories are connected with that 
old home, while the domicile of the Partridge family, and 
hundreds of people can say, "beneath that roof I have 
passed some of the happiest days of my life." It has shel- 
tered more people than live in sight of it to-day, the white 
man, the Indian who slept wrapped up in his blanket on the 
brick hearth by its open fireplace, and the Negro slaves of 
its early owners. Beneath that roof have been enjoyed the 
fond lovers' courtship, the wedding ceremony, the happy days 
of the " honeymoon " with song dance and music, and oft 
the gayest lads and lassies gathered there for social parties 
and made the old walls ring with echoes of their joy and 
mirth. Many a child first saw the light of day within those 
walls, and there with the last sad rites to mortals given, 
has been sung the sad refrain, which was sung there at the 
funeral of Mr. James W. Partridsce. 

We'll never say good-bye in heaven, 
We'll never say good-bye, 
Tor in that land of joy and song, 
We'll never say good-bye. 

A story will illustrate the generosity of Mr. Partridge 

and his family of whom it used to be said, " they seem to run 

a free hotel up there." A few years ago the fine little steam 

yacht Carita, owned by Mr. Alfred Davenport of Boston, 

brought here a party of his friends from Squirrel Island to 

look over the old ruins. As a part of them stood near the 

old house, one of our citizens, Mr. Myrick H. Marson, while 

speaking to them of Mr. Partridge, said: "I came here 

on one occasion to transact some business with him. I 

called him to the door and informed him of my business, 

but he would not listen to me till after dinner, ursine: me 



88 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

to come in and eat with the rest. From the door I 
could see a large company sitting at the table and I said, 
" I do not want to go in there and eat with all those 
strangers, I don't know any of them." " Oh, never mind 
that," Mr. Partridge said, " I don't know them myself.'' 

I have heard " uncle Jim," as he was often called, say, 
" I never begrudged a person a meal of victuals in my life," 
and I never heard his wife or daughters complain about the 
extra amount of work they must have been obliged to do 
for all their company. With all their generosity and 
kindness to others, they have always had an abundance, 
and none of the family have ever suffered for lack of food, 
clothing, fuel or any of the necessities of life. 

I remember on one occasion, a gentlemen from Massa- 
chusetts who used to reside here, came to the old house 
with his newly wedded bride to enjoy their "honeymoon" 
and there met many other visitors who used to come from 
Vassalboro and other towns back in the country to stop a 
few weeks by the seashore. Twenty-five people found 
food and shelter there on that occasion, and from " morn 
till eve " their song and lauofhter made the old house ring 
with pleasant echoes. Sailing and fishing parties were en- 
joyed down the bay by most of the company on pleasant 
days, which were often extended far into the night. The 
little drag boat, called the "Come On," owned by the 
author's brother, Jacob Alonzo, having a fine cabin, was a 
favorite with the young people then. 

"Uncle Jim" had five sons then living, and two 
daughters, who by their good graces soon attracted the sons 
of other men and it was a singular coincidence that the old- 
est daughter, Jennie E., whose father owned the site of old 
forts on this side of the Pemaquid River, should select 
from her many suitors, Mr. George N. Lewis, the son of 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 89 

Mr. Nathan Lewis, who owned the site of the other fort 
and settlement across the river, even the name of which no 
one knows to-day. 

Mr. Lewis used to come across on his regular visits to 
the old mansion in a small skiff, (he was a small man him- 
self) which served him better than a horse and buggy to 
drive around by land. One night some mischievous boys 
played a trick on him by hauling his "team," as they 
called it, up from the river bank where he had left it to re- 
turn home as usual when his visit was ended. They took 
it in through the back door to the kitchen, tied it to the 
door latch and piled up in front of it a generous supply of 
good hay. When George returned to the shore during the 
small hours of the night, he was surprised to find that his 
skiff had vanished. He was obliged to return and remain 
at the old mansion till morning. But he, being a good 
natured lad, full of fun and mischief and fond of playing 
tricks upon other people, could not w^ell complain of this 
one which had been played upon himself. 

A jolly, roving lad named Asa Johnson Dodge, capt- 
ured Mr. Partridge's youngest daughter Clara. He used 
to drive a team called a "Peddler Cart," dispensing dry 
goods and Yankee notions to the people all over the town 
of Bristol. After marriage they settled down at Pemaquid 
Falls, where he carried on a thriving business with a store 
from which you could obtain all kinds of goods from a 
pump tack to a bag of grain. He became town treasurer, 
often presided at town meetings, served his townsmen as 
representative to the legislature, was postmaster several 
years till about 1897, being assisted by his wife and family. 

Pemaquid being too small for his growing ambition 
he removed his family, consisting of Mrs. Dodge, three 
daughters and two sons to Roxbury, to swell the popula- 



90 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

tion of Massachusetts which has absorbed so many of our 
good citizens, to be regretted by their friends remaining 
here. 

A Remarkable Duck Story. 

A story now occurs to me that has connection with the 
old barn as well as an inmate of the old house ; it is a tough 
duck story, but having heard it from the lips of Mr. Part- 
ridge and his two daughters, Jennie and Clara, I cannot 
doubt their words or those of many other witnesses still 
living, who are willing to testify to the truth of the cir- 
cumstances here related. 

Some twenty years ago Mr. Partridge had a small 
flock of eight ducks which he delegated to the care of Miss 
Clara, giving her the proceeds of their daily supply of eggs. 
She soon found that she was getting each day one more 
egg than there were ducks, which at first puzzled her very 
much. The ducks were not liberated from their pen in the 
old barn, until they had laid in the morning, and to find out 
which one laid the double quantity, they shut them up sep- 
arately until the right one was found. This was soon ac- 
complished ; and that duck became a pet, and her fame was 
known for fifty miles around. This noble bird kept up her 
profitable occupation through the whole summer season, 
and the next year she beat her own record by laying three 
eggs pej' day. They always used to let her out after she 
had laid two eggs, but one day they discovered a nest full 
of duck's eggs in a bed of tans}^ just south of the old barn- 
yard wall, and soon found that she was laying two eggs for 
Miss Clara and one for herself. This Mr. Henry Partridge 
now tells me they proved by keeping her shut up in her 
cage, made of boards and laths, till they secured all she 
laid. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 91 

After listening to this story, all three of the sons now 
residing here verify it, and Mr. James Partridge adds, " I 
have heard father say to people to whom he told the story, 
' If you don't believe me you can take that duck home 
with you and if she doesn't lay twenty-one eggs in seven 
days, I will give you one hundred dollars,'" and Mr. Fred 
A. Partridge adds to his brother's testimony, "Yes, and 
I have heard him say if she don't lay you twenty-one eggs 
eggs in seven days you need not bring her back." 

The loss of the whole flock occurred when the old barn 
was burned. Deacon Wm. Foster who came from Rock- 
port, Mass., and used to keep a store here, and was for 
several years Superintendent of the Sabbath School at New 
Harbor, was one of the first at the fire, and he and Mrs. 
Partridge saw the flock apparently very much frightened 
by the fire, when they flew away across the river and were 
lost to view. 



CHAPTER Xyi. 
THE OLD CELLARS OF PEMAQUID. 

When they show to the best advantage — The only perfect wall of 
one remaining on the site of the old settlement — Walls well 
built — The McCaffrey cellar — Number filled up by Mr. 
Partridge. 

♦tfFN many places along the lines of buried paving and in 
■I other localities, where we have not yet traced any 
paved streets are depressions, generally with small mounds 
about them which indicate by the difference in the vege- 
table growth upon them, and their composition that they 
are composed of soil thrown up from beneath the original 
surface. 

There are certain seasons of the year when these cellars 
can be seen to better advantage ; if you look for them after 
the grass has grown up quite tall you may see but little 
indications of their existence ; but just after haying time, 
or in the spring when the snow has melted away upon the 
fields these depressions will remain filled with ice and snow 
for a long time, and can be readily distinguished in distinct 
rows for a long distance. 

The only cellar remaining on this little peninsula to- 
day, which has not been filled up except l)y rubbish, is one 
that lies just west of the old fort house near the western 
walls inside of the boundary line of the old fort where 
were located the houses of the ofiicers. The walls of this 
cellar which have been exposed to the elements for more 
than a century, still show the effects of good workmanship ; 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 93 

no better walls could be laid by any mason to-day with 
natural stone than in these cellars and others which I have 
examined. It is a well known fact to all stone-masons that 
walls of this kind must be properly laid to prevent the frost 
from tearing them to pieces in winter after they have been 
exposed by the destruction of the building above. 

Mr. John Stinson in his testimony read before the 
Maine Historical Society, informs us that he counted three 
hundred cellars here in 1835. 

Mr. William Erskine when looking over the place 
with me a few years ago, said, " I have counted over 
seventy cellars on one street along that creek," pointing 
to the east side of the peninsula which is bounded by 
McCaffrey's creek. 

Most of them have been so long cultivated over that 
they cannot be readily located now. According to Mr. 
Partridge's account the largest one of the depressions on 
this street was the cellar of Morgan McCaffrey for whom 
the creek was named (some claim it was called Cox's Cove 
previously) and whose gravestones attract much attention 
in the old burying ground. It is located about one-half 
way from the Hotel to the head of the creek. That with 
others along that shore has been filled up some since I 
came here. 

A large bed of strawberries has been cultivated about 
the McCaffrey cellar ; it was a convenient place to throw in 
stray weeds, turf, and stone and in that way the cellars are 
finally evened up with the surrounding fields until their 
locality cannot be discerned. 

In 1888, Mr. Partridge once said to me, "I have filled 
up over forty of these cellars since I owned this place in 
about forty years." 



94 TEN TEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Capt. J. B. Fitch who told me about the pavings, 
said, "along this main street were cellar walls thick 
enough, and heavy enough to support any block of build- 
ings in the city. Your father (Elijah P. Cartland) helped 
me dio; out one of several found on Fish Point when I 
built a wharf and store, just before the Civil war, and we 
found the bottom floored over with logs hewn on three 
sides and bedded nicely together in the soil. "We found in 
one cellar some relics ; one was a gun made before the 
flint-locks were. It had a flash-pan as large as a small 
saucer." 

We have the evidence of many people who have helped 
to fill the cellars here ; sometimes using paving stones, 
sometimes stone from the old forts, and sometimes soil. 

On Pemaquid Point, Rutherford's, Witch Island, on 
each side of John's Bay, on the banks of the Damariscotta, 
the John's and the Pemaquid rivers are hundreds of cellars 
many of them overgrown and surrounded with a growth of 
large trees. Many choice relics have been excavated from 
some of these cellars, and no doubt thousands more remain, 
which will interest the antiquarian when brought to light. 
No one to-day can tell the story of the past that belonged 
with every one of them, but all I have known to be dug 
out have furnished evidence of the civilization of the 
former owners whose homes were once located above those 
lonely excavations. 




SIDEWALK OF ANCIENT PAVINGS. 




ANCIENT PAVINGS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ANCIENT PAVINGS. 

Mystery of — Extent of — Fine workmanship — Protection of the 
pavings — Why so little can be exhibited — Cobble and flat- 
stone paving — Depth beneath the soil — How has it become 
buried — Evidence of Mr. James Partridge and his brother — 
First discovery by ploughing — Evidence of Capt. L. D. 
McLain, J. B. Fitch and others — Digging up one of the 
paved streets — First indicated by stunted vegetation during 
drought — Eeport of Maine Historical Society of August 
25th and 26th, 1869. 

Green is the sod where, centuries ago, 

The pavements echoed with the thronging feet 
Of busy crowds that hurried to and fro, 

And met and parted in the city street; 
Here, where they lived, all holy thoughts revive, 

Of patient striving and of faith held fast; 
Here, where they died, their buried records live; 

Silent they speak from out the shadowy past. 

M. W. Hackelton. 

^^HE greatest mystery of all the relics found at old 
\j^ Pemaquid within the last century are her wonderful 
and extensive pavings, beyond the reach of any recorded 
history yet brought to light, as to their origin, and yet 
showing where the people have left them as originally 
laid, the best specimens of that kind of work done with 
natural stone that I have ever seen. The extent and work- 
manship which I have been able to examine a portion of, 
in three different localities, two on the east and one on the 
west side of the river, indicate the settlement of a people 
well advanced in civilization. 



96 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Having heard much about the paved streets before I 
commenced investigations here I have taken much pains to 
obtain correct information concerning the history as far 
back as possible and with the time and means at my dis- 
posal to examine all that has been exposed during the last 
decade. 

As soon as my health would permit after coming here, 
I began excavations and work on a cottage to cover the 
pavings and preserve the relics found. Mr. Partridge 
kindly showed me a convenient spot and gave me the free use 
of it. "But" said he, speaking from his past experience, 
" it will be no use for you to uncover it unless you can 
protect it with a building for the relic hunters will carry 
away every stone you uncover unless you protect them." 

I did not have the funds to pay for a very elaborate 
building; but after some delay put up a structure 12 x 15 
feet, and one story, using the paving for the floor and on 
shelves placed relics and curiosities that were gathered 
here, forming a sort of a museum and named it the " Pav- 
ing Cottage." I could only exhibit a small piece some 
10 X 12 feet square, as the platform on which people stood 
to view it with rail in front to keep them from going on to 
it, covered a part from view. 

This was not satisfactory to me or all of my visitors, 
rather a small exhibit where so much had been claimed and 
some would naturally say, " Well they might have laid 
that some time in the night to have it to exhibit." But I 
knew that there was more of it joining what I had on 
exhibition, for by having a narrow trench dug at right 
angles from the fine cobble-stones toward the fort foun- 
dations I found paving extending that way thirty-three feet 
with a good water course and curbstone on the outer edges. 
This was of flat stones filled in with some cobbles from the 
shore to make it all compact. 



TEN YEAES AT PEMAQUID. 97 

I finally got permission of the heirs of Mr. Partridge, 
he having died in 1888, to uncover more of the paving and 
I then had the building moved to the northern edge of it 
and enclosed it with a fence and having a raised platform 
over it. This gives visitors a good opportunity to view 
and examine both kinds of stone work. So we have now 
on exhibition what appears to be a short section of a street 
about ten feet above high water mark, leading down a fine 
easy sloping field toward a small beach, an inbent line of 
the harbor shore, a pretty place to bathe and where the 
children love to play and build forts of the fine white sand, 
in summer. 

The larger stones form what we term the main street, 
which is thirty-three feet in width including the gutters, or 
water courses. The finer work of cobble-stones evidently 
taken from the beach near by is eleven and one-half feet 
wide. The longer cobbles were selected and placed across 
the sidewalk on lines two feet and one-half apart, then the 
space filled in with smaller ones. One -row is laid diag- 
onally as if to form the corner of a square yard, and it 
might have been thus fancifully done because it was the 
front yard paving of some former mansion ; no prettier 
place could have been found along^the shore, and it was in 
close proximity to the fort. The other part we found to 
be laid in sections, when we got it swept ofi", for no one can 
see the fine workmanship until the seams are cleared of 
soil and all swept ofi", because the uneven stones could not 
be laid level like flat ones. Unobserving people would 
pass over that exposed by the plough because the plough 
can go no lower than the tops of the highest stones, leaving 
all others entirely covered with soil. 

All this work was done systematically for I found by 
measurements that the larger paving sloped from the center 



98 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

either way to the gutters which are nicely laid with selected 
stone for the curbing and finer cobbles for the center all 
compactly placed, and served to drain both parts of the 
pavings, which were found to be twelve inches beneath the 
soil at the center, and fifteen at the edges. That is not a 
great depth compared with volcanic burials of ancient 
streets or localities that have the wash of running water ; 
but for this locality it seems deep, being on a nearly level 
field and in other places on the very highest part of the 
peninsula. 

At first I thought it might have been caused by de- 
cayed vegetable matter which had, year by year for cen- 
turies, accumulated there but I gave up that theory when I 
found it was covered with rich soil well mixed with coarse 
and fine gravel. It is now thought to be the work of 
angle or earth worms and that theory has some foundation 
from the fact that every spring and fall they throw up the 
soil between the cobbles so that we have frequently to 
sweep it up and take it away to prevent the stones from 
being completely hidden from view. 

This corresponds with experiments made by Prof. 
Darwin some years ago with a piece of board which he laid 
flat on the soil in his garden ; the worms soon covered it 
from view with soil which they brought to the surface. 
Few people can realize the amount of work those little 
earth worms do unless they study their habits. 

Mr. Partridge's Evidence. 
As we walked up the field from the shore where the 
cottage now stands Mr. Partridge said, *' I have traced the 
paving up through this field by ploughing and digging to 
the road ; and from there on to where the gates of the forts 
were located in front of the old house, then out to the 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 99 

burying-ground. I have tried several times to plougli 
them out in that field but found them so large that the only 
way to get rid of them was to dig them up and haul them 
away. Some years ago a gentleman from Bangor, Maine, 
came here and stopped several weeks making surveys and a 
plan of the pavings found here. He was an invalid and I 
used to have to help him out of bed in the morning." I 
could not get any information about this person on the 
results of his work as Mr. Partridge had forg^otten his 
name. 

J. Reed Partridge, a brother of the above named 
James, now residing at Bremen, went over this field with 
me and pointed out the locality of the main street as he 
saw it when he helped his brother to plough up the field 
many years ago. 

Capt. Lorenzo D. McLain's Evidence. 

He is a boat builder and has resided at the Beach many 
years. One day, about three years ago he surprised me by 
bounding in through the doorway of the Paving Cottage 
and with a pleasant salutation said, as he made a solid 
landing on the platform with both feet at once, '* There! 
this is the first time I have ever been inside of this building 
since you put it up." 

After examining the relics and pavings he gave me the 
following information. *' When I was a small boy, about 
1855 I think it was, I helped your uncle Jim plough this 
field. He had got a new No. 8 plough and was going to 
plough his land deeper than he had been dojng. He had 
Capt. Alfred Bradley (still living) and Willard Jones with 
two yoke of oxen, and my job was to hold down the plough 
beam and keep it clear. 



100 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

" Every time we came 'round on this side of the field 
the plough would come up some ways in spite of all we 
could do and it appeared to slide along on something like 
a ledge, but we could not think a ledge would be so even. 

" At last he got out of patience and turning to me said 
* Jemes rice,' that was his swear expression; ' boy, go up 
to the liarn and get a hoe and the crowbar and we will see 
what there is here.' Then we found this paving and where 
we first cleared it off it seemed to be laid in cement and we 
had to dig a long time with the crowbar before we could 
get out the first stone." 

When we uncovered the larger stone paving I found it 
had the appearance of having been disturbed on the part 
now covered by the platform. I inquired of Capt, McLain 
about that. " O !" said he, '* that is the work of the relic 
hunters. When uncle Jim first found this he opened quite 
a piece and left it uncovered. One day I came along here 
and found that the relic hunters had dug out the smaller 
stones and taken them away ; then uncle Jim had to cover 
it up to save it." 

By examining the soil where the stone had l^een taken 
out I found brick, charcoal and other indications that the 
paving had been laid over ruins of some former structure 
as I have before found relics beneath stone-work that 
showed plainly that the last structure was erected over the 
ruins of some previous one. This goes to prove the his- 
tory of the place stating that it has been repeatedly built 
up and destroyed. 

Mrs. Everett Lewis told me of indications of cellars, a 
fireplace, etc., found alongside this paving many years 
ago. 

David Chamberlain, Esq., of this town, an aged gentle- 
man now residing at Round Pond, Maine, pointed out a 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 101 

spot near the road and on a line with the paving now 
uncovered, where he uncovered a portion of the cobbles in 
1869, to exhibit to the INIembers of the Maine Historical 
Society. Said he, "I uncovered a piece there in the 
morning thirty feet long and before night every stone was 
taken away." 

Capt. Jose})h B. Fitch of Chicago wdio used to trade 
here, visited the place a few years ago and kindly went 
with me over the old paved streets leading out to the 
burying-ground and pointed out the spots where, when a 
boy, he used to pick raspberries from bushes that grew up 
beside the curbstones of the street which were afterward 
hauled away to the river bank. 

Mr. Nathan Goold of Portland informed me that he 
visited Pemaquid about twenty-five years ago and Capt. 
Patrick Tukey showed him pavings on that street and also 
between the cellars. Said he, " I think those people must 
have been 'pavinrj cranks to have paved their streets and 
between their houses too." 

In the testimony given by Mr. Henry Varley in the 
account of the celebration given here in 1871, there were 
three points left unsatisfactory to me, in his statement 
that, "I was engaged with other men more than one week 
in digging up the pavement of one street." 

That account failed to locate the street, give the num- 
ber of men employed or tell what they did with the paving 
stone. One day Capt. Patrick Tukey of Long Cove came 
here to look over the ruins with me and when standing 
upon the old Rock and gazing over the field he remarked, 
^' I used to work on this place many years ago for Capt. 
Nichols." 

I inquired ' ' Did you ever see any one digging up any 
of the paved streets here?" "Oh! yes I remember that 



102 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Mr. Varley dug up one that ran from the shore to the 

bury ing-ground . " 

"How many men did he have employed with him?" 

"Well, I can't just remember but three ox four I should 

say." 

" What did they do with the stone, Captain?" 

" Well they had a cart and oxen and after they dug 

them up with their pickaxes and crowbars they put them in 

the cart and hauled them to the shore and dumped them 

over the bank." 

I was pleased to obtain this statement because it gave 
more definite information and confirmed my idea that it 
must have been a street with a steep grade where the soil 
had not gathered over it sufficiently deep to admit of culti- 
vation without reach ins; it. 

I have heard it said that the first indications of paving 
seen by recent settlers was on a field of grain where during 
a drought, that above the paving suffered most, and being 
stunted plainly marked its outline. By that means we are 
able to plainly trace all the buried walls of the fort, and 
the cellars can ])e traced with much more accuracy when 
the grass is short in spring or soon after lieing mowed 
over. 

Mr. John Blaisdell who now resides near here on the 
old Col. Brackett estate, once showed me where Mr. Part- 
ridge ploughed over a cross street leading down from the 
main street toward the river, perhaps two-thirds of the dis- 
tance from the old barn to the burying-ground. " I was 
driving the cattle" said he, "and the plough struck the 
edge of a flat stone and turned it out from among the rest, 
and uncle Jim made me stop the cattle and he went back 
and put the stone in its place again." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 103 

About three years ago I had an opportunity to ex- 
amine a portion of the main street pavings which were 
exposed well out toward the old cemetery w^hen the field 
was ploughed. It was in quite good condition and paved 
with quite large cobbles. 

Beside the many places where I have examined it, I 
have been shown another place where it was found on the 
bank of a small sandy cove, near the present village, and 
close to the residence of Capt. George R. McLain and 
Llewellyn McLain. That found up the river will come 
under an account of a trip to the Pemaquid Falls, three 
miles up this noted winding river. 

I will close this chapter by a quotation from the report 
of the Maine Historical Society of August 25 and 26, 1869, 
by the Secretary, Mr. Edward Ballard : 

By the diligence of some members of the local committee, 
a portion of the paved street had been laid bare by the removal 
of the superincumbent soil, to the depth of eight to eighteen 
inches, over which the ploughshare had often been driven in 
former years. The regular arrangement of the beach-stones, the 
depression for the water course to the shore, the curbstones, the 
adjoining foundation-stones still in place, articles of household 
furniture and implements of the artisan, all these and other con- 
curring facts proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that a 
European community had dwelt on this spot, and had made this 
long street in imitation of what they had left in the mother 
land. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE OLD CACHE. 

The only one of its kind yet discovered on this Continent — Built 
of trapezoidal brick — Its location — What was it built for? 
Its discovery — Destroyed by the relic hunters — It should be 
rebuilt — An important letter from Capt. L. H. Fossett des- 
cribing those which he saw at Leghorn. 

'HIS word is derived from the French and is pro- 
nounced as though it was spelled cash. The defini- 
tion as given in Webster's Dictionary, is a hole in the 
ground for hiding provisions wdiich it is inconvenient to 
carry. They are quite common in our Western States now 
and are used for hiding and preserving provisions, etc. 
The one found here was called a cistern, because no one 
knew its proper name or what it was built for. For many 
years after its discovery the structure remained an attract- 
ive relic, and a puzzle to all who examined it, until it van- 
ished, brick by brick, like many of the other choice 
relics that have been excavated here. 

This cache was different from any other I have ever 
learned of in our country, being walled up with odd shaped 
bricks trapezoidal in form, so that when placed side by 
side, they formed a circle, as ordinary bricks do a straight 
line, and they were laid in a mortar composed principally 
of clay. It was about ten feet deep and nearly seven in 
diameter ; once entirely covered and hidden beneath the 
soil. It was located on the bank of the river a few rods 



TEN YEAKS AT PEMAQUID. 105 

northerly from the fort. When constructed, the builders 
must have dug a hole in the ground exactly as in digging a 
well and then used those odd bricks to form a wall, arching 
them over at the top some two feet below the surface of the 
soil so as to leave a small hole only at the top just large 
enough for a person to crawl down and back through, 
called a "manhole." The " manhole " was evidently cov- 
ered with a flat stone, and then by covering the top and 
removing the surplus soil dug out, and putting back the 
turf as is done when finishing a lawn, or banking with cut 
turf, the growing grass or other vegetation would soon hide 
all evidence of the structure with its store of valuables, or 
food well hidden from the enemies of the builders. 

There must have been times when food was of more 
value than gold or silver to some of our early colonists, 
when the enemies of the early settlers had attacked them 
and destroyed all their provisions at the forts and settle- 
ments and driven the inhabitants to the islands. Of what 
use was money then? Where could they go to obtain food 
with it? Portland, Boston or New York did not exist; 
but when the enemy left or when night came on they could 
return in boats and secure their " staft' of life." It seems 
to me that for some such emergency this structure was 
built, or it might have been used to hide other valu- 
uables. It took the old sailing vessels sometimes twelve 
weeks to cross the ocean, as we learn by the records of 
Richard Mather concerning the James and Angel Gabriel. 
Without some such provision of surplus food they must 
have subsisted on the products of the ocean, the clam-flats 
and mussel-beds, a long time before they received food or 
supplies from across the Atlantic. I have found accounts 
of the early settlers that verify this statement of their food 



106 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

supply of clams, etc., upon which they had to subsist 
sometimes for many weeks. 

The story of the discovery of this cache is as follows : 
Mrs. Mahala Paul, the old lady before mentioned in con- 
nection with the old fort house, and a relative, Miss Selina 
Upham, were walking along the bank of the river which 
there forms the southern side of the inner harbor, and 
noticed some of those odd shaped bricks, which had fallen 
down to the water's edge, with the soil which had been 
undermined by the high tides and sea. (That work of the 
sea still goes on and I have noticed in the last decade 
places where the soil has been washed away, back five feet 
or more.) They traced the bricks to their source near the 
top of the bank and there beheld the whole circle of the 
structure outlined with those bricks, showing where the 
bank when it slid down took ofl'the top of the cache. The 
storms had washed off soil from above and completely filled 
the structure. 

The ladies hastened to the house and found the people 
just eating dinner ; considerable excitement was manifested 
on the recital of their discovery and those at dinner stopped 
eating and repaired to the cache, the men carrying tools to 
dig with. Mr. James W. Partridge, Elijah P. Cartland, 
Georo-e N. Lewis and Alonzo Partridare were the men who 
dug it out, but they were disappointed ; empty was the 
structure, and its treasures gone. 

This structure ought to be rebuilt as a monument of 
past history. It was a great misfortune to have it de- 
stroyed. We have collected many of the bricks that have 
been carried away in times past, giving each one credit for 
those returned, and we hope to receive many more. It 
would cost but a few hundred dollars to rebuild it, and it 
could be left partially uncovered for inspection. The Pem- 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 107 

aquid Improvement Association will be glad to restore it 
as soon as they can obtain the money for that purpose. 

The following letter sent me by Capt. Loring Fossett, 
a well known sea captain of this town, will throw much 
light on this antique structure. 

"Pemaquid, Maine, Aug. 30, 1890. 
"Mr. J. H. Cartland, 

"Pemaquid Beach. 

'■'■'Dear Sir: — Your favor of yesterday's date at hand 
this A. M., and noted. So to be as brief as possible would 
say that I saw the cistern or vault which was discovered at 
or near the ruins of the Old Fort. It was in the spring or 
early summer ; it was partly filled with water and was pro- 
tected by a board fence of two rails high. I have a very 
vivid recollection of its size and bricks, etc., and was much 
interested concerning it, but saw no one who could give me 
any satisfactory idea concerning its former use. 

In 1870, I made a voyage to the Mediterranean, and 
while at Leghorn, Italy, saw by the Military Barracks a 
plot of ground containing some four or five acres that con- 
tained many such underground structures used for storing 
grain or military supplies, T noticed them by seeing the 
soldiers opening them and taking the grain out to dry 
which was wheat, barley and peas. The size was about 
eight feet in diameter and twelve feet deep ; they had two 
feet of earth over them and were opened by removing a 
small quantity of earth over the ' manhole,' or opening 
which was round in shape, about fifteen inches in diameter, 
and a stone cover which fitted closely. Some had iron 
covers which indicated that their stone predecessors had 
been broken or otherwise unfitted for use. The bricks 
were deep red and made for the purpose to which they 
were put. I made inquiries about their construction and 



108 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

was informed that the old Military custom was to build 
those underground vaults for the purpose of storing sup- 
plies and valuables which were always kept in secret places 
near their strongholds. 

"The city of Leghorn having grown extensively in later 
years of course has changed the topography of the sur- 
roundings of those particular Military posts of which I am 
writing from their former appearance. 

"At the time I saw them they were on a plot of ground 
about eisfht feet hioher than the surrounding streets, walled 
up on all sides and slightly crowning on top enough to 
turn the water. In regard to the mortar of which they 
were constructed I can give no idea as the inside showed 
dingy from age and use. They entered them by a small 
rope ladder and removed the grain with cloth bags attached 
to a bow of wood, similar to our fish dip nets. 

"After removing the grain they were swept clean, dried 
and the grain put back and covered as before. When re- 
moving the earth on opening them the sod was cut clean 
and nicely removed and when put back in its place would 
take an expert to tell where they were. This custom I 
was informed was common in Italy in the middle ages 
and was very old. I have forgotten what they were called 
but any Italian scholar can give you that information. I 
have never heard of any other nation using this custom. 
In haste, I am Yours respectfully, 

"L. H. FOSSETT." 



CHAPTEE XIX. 
REMAINS OF BLACKSMITH SHOPS. 

Tools found here indicate fine workmanship and material. 

♦tfFN former days the music of the smithy's anvil rang 
■I through every village in the land from morn till 
dewy eve. I have often heard it said that there were seven 
blacksmith shops belonging to this place. Thus far I have 
only located the remains of two to my satisfaction ; one 
upon Fish Point said to have had two forges, one having a 
stone anvil which Capt. L. D. McLain recently informed 
me he had used to cut off bolts when at work there. Said 
he, "When I dug out the cellar for that house," pointing 
out the one now occupied by Capt. Geo. McLain and 
family, " I found the remains of a blacksmith's shop there. 
I ought to know what belongs about them for I have worked 
in them enough to learn. I found pieces of iron, slag, a 
cannon ball and a frasjuient of the end of a laro^e cannon." 

I have found on an old map several places marked 
along the shore north of the house above alluded to where 
other shops were located. On the southerly side of the 
main street leading from the fort to the burying-ground a 
place has been pointed out as the former location of the 
"Village Square" where several more blacksmith's shops 
once existed. The remains of those most essential and 
common places of mechanical industry like the carpenters' 
and shipbuilders' establishments are now hard to trace ; but 
all over this locality we find the relics of the smith's handi- 



110 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

work ranging from a ' ' Nigger hoe " to a ship-carpenter's 
pod-auger. Spikes, nails, knives, shears, cleavers, and a 
hundred other implements were then worked out by hand 
that now are made of cast iron and by machinery. The 
excellent material used, and the remains of fine work still 
plainly to be seen on the knives, shears, and some of the 
best-preserved implements found, indicate that if these 
were not imported articles, there were expert workers of 
iron here long ago. 



CHAPTEK XX. 

EVIDENCE OF PIPE MAKING. 

The clay pipe factories — Great variety of pipes found here — The 
noted little " Irish Fairy " or "Queen Mab " pipe. 

T|^OR many years past the old settlers of this place have 
^||| often been known to speak of the ' ' remains of pipe 
factories." 

The second thing I dug for after coming here in 1888 
was to find the foundation of one of those factories. On 
the western edge of an out-cropping ledge between the 
hotel and outer harbor, I soon observed a mound about 
twenty feet in diameter on which grew vegetation much 
more rank than that adjoining it. On digging a trench 
across it I found the mound composed mostly of blue clay 
like that of many of the natural deposits about here. A 
low stone wall partially divided the mound. On the edge 
the clay had turned red, indicating that it had been sub- 
jected to great heat, perhaps when the building above it 
was burned. At the edge of the mound I found a flat door 
bolt, hand made nails, a lead bullet, etc. Among the clay 
and stones were charcoal, pipe bowls and stems, and on 
tipping over the lower stones more pipe fragments and 
relics indicating that the last structure built there covered 
another of previous record, as found in other places, and 
by recorded history. I then replaced the stone and soil. 

This was no thorough or satisfactory investigation, but 
it is better to leave what remains of this and many other 



112 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

historic spots till we have time and funds to carefully 
excavate, preserve and make record of these footprints of 
the early settlers ; then we shall be better able to read or 
trace their records along the pathway of time. 

On the point of land just south of the Beach village 
where the main street leading to Fish Point intersects with 
the water at high tide, and where an ice-house used to 
stand till a few years ago, is now a summer residence, — a 
fine cottage — of Mr. Josiah C. Evans of Vassalboro, 
Maine. Before either of those buildings were erected, 
indications of a large pipe factory were discovered and 
many people used to dig out the fragments and were some- 
times rewarded by finding a whole pipe or many bowls 
with short stems. Many have been found on the flats by 
excavations at low water, indicating that some of the frag- 
ments w^ere thrown over the bank. Mr. Reed Partridge 
once stated to me that when he used to go over to Fish 
Point to plough up the land, he would run the plough 
along that ridge of land on his way and it would turn out 
great quantities of pipe fragments. 

All over this peninsula when excavating pavings, fort 
walls or even digging holes for posts those fragments are 
found. Most of them are white, indicating the use of 
foreign clay. Some are red and might have been made of 
the blue clay common here which turns red on being sub- 
jected to great heat or " burned " as people generally speak 
of finished bricks. I have not succeeded in obtaining but 
few perfect pipes, but odd shapes and sizes are interesting ; 
the odd figures and letters found upon them, — even the 
handles being sometimes ornamented, — seem to show that 
they were the products of many different manufacturers ; 
so few are alike, and the abundance found so widely scat- 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 113 

tered over this locality indicate the general use of that 
poisonous plant called tobacco. 

A tiny little pipe found at all three of the settlements 
in this vicinity, generally in and about the cellars and pav- 
ings, has attracted more attention than the larger ones 
because it was so small one could not insert the tip end of 
the smallest finger in the bowl. I have recently learned 
that the proper name for them is the "Queen Mab" or 
" Irish Fairy " pipe. I have seen pictures of some from a 
collection by a New York gentleman that were finely orna- 
mented with pictures of faces on the side of the bowl. 
Some people have suggested that they might have been 
used to smoke opium in. 

Last summer a party of Irish people visited the Kock 
Cottage who were posted in Irish customs of their native 
land. While examining one of those little pipes I inquired 
of one of the ladies if her people at home used such small 
pipes to smoke with. She answered with a hearty laugh, 
and said, " Oh ! no, those are not for the people to smoke 
at all, they are for the fairies. In our country when the 
people used to have parties and festivals they remembered 
the fairies and formed a circle or small rings of grass in 
the field near where the festivals were held, and at night 
placed those little pipes around the rings for them to 
smoke." 



CHAPTEE XXI. 
OLD VESSELS. 

Kelics of old vessels found about Pemaquid — Worms and other 
parasites which cause their destruction — Wooden relics 
found under water — Heaps of foreign and domestic ballast 
of flint and other minerals. 

♦tfFT is well known to all people who obtain their liveli- 
II hood about the salt water, that all the common wood 
of vessels, wharves, lobster traps, etc., is soon attacked by 
insects or worms, as they are generally called. One kind 
fairly honeycomb the plank and timbers of vessels with 
holes as large as pipe-stems boring in all directions through 
the center of the wood but like the cunning rats on board 
of ships, their instinct seems to teach them not to eat 
entirely through the outside of the planking, but leave just 
a thin shell on the outer surface. 

No doubt many an old ship has been sunk by their 
means, for when the planks are thus eaten away if the 
vessel strikes a floating log, timber, or ice-cake, as they 
are often likely to in the night it would easily puncture a 
hole in the bottom that would soon cause them to till with 
water and sink. Those larger worms are more trouble- 
some in warm climates and our larger vessels that frequent 
tropical ports are generally protected by large sheets of 
thin copper firmly nailed on over all parts exposed to con- 
tact with the water. This process is called "sheathing," 
and is quite expensive. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 115 

Smaller vessels which can be readily hauled on some 
smooth beach at high water, when the tide leaves are easily 
rid of the barnacles, sea grass, and other parasites which 
grow upon them and obstruct their passage through the 
water. The sea-worms are destroyed and checked in their 
work of destruction by frequent application of paint, some 
of which is very effectual. 

Lobster traps are taken from the water frequently, and 
after remaining on shore a" few weeks the worms die ; they 
are then again ready for use, but the piling and logs of 
wharves where they are constantly submerged have to be 
replaced by new ones as they are entirely eaten off in a few 
years. 

These pests eat along the upright piling between the 
low water mark and the soil on the bottom of the river or 
harbor where the wharf stands, so they present a queer 
appearance : at low water we can often see piling a foot or 
more in diameter at the top and near the bottom eaten 
away to the size of a person's wrist leaving the hard knots 
which they do not fancy so well, projecting out in all 
directions. Below the soil the worms do not penetrate the 
wood, and that part remaining under soil and water pro- 
tected from the air will keep as perfect as when driven 
down, for centuries. I read of some removed at the old 
London Bridge, England, which were recently excavated 
and found as perfect as when put down eight hundred 
years ago. 

I have found several specimens of wood here which 
show the work of four different species of worms. The 
first honeycombs the wood, the second bores generally 
lengthwise of the wood and incases his hole as he goes 
along with a beautiful white shell about as thick as a sheet 
of writing paper, into which you can run an ordinary lead 



116 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

pencil with ease the whole length, it is so straight. Others 
bore in towards the heart of the wood having their holes 
very thick together, and as smooth and neatly done as if 
made by the sharp tool of an artisan. 

Another kind is a tiny little fellow about as long, 
though smaller round than the ordinary sea-flea but very 
lively and he does the most mischief eating altogether upon 
the outside of the wood. These facts will explain why we 
cannot be expected to find the remains of much pertaining 
to ancient wooden structures about here on the seashore. 

I have only secured a few specimens that escaped the 
ravages of the worms : one is a fine old quadrant found 
under water a few years ago by Mr. Joseph Giflbrd of this 
place when spearing bait for lobsters. That is composed 
of black ebony and must have been too tough for their 
teeth for although so old that the metal attached to it is 
much corroded and some entirely gone, there are only a 
few pin holes in the wood to show any indications of the 
little wood destroyer. 

Another specimen is a fragment of a ship's keel about 
fifteen feet long, with rusty remnants of bolts, some over 
two feet long, projecting through it at short intervals at 
right angles with the wood, indicating that it was part of 
the keel or kelson of a large vessel (possibly the Angel 
Gabriel before mentioned) . What remains of this relic is 
completely saturated or petrified with the oxide of iron and 
must have been what is termed the " heart" of the wood. 
Its hardness and the iron evidently saved it from destruc- 
tion by the worms. This relic was brought to light by Mr. 
Pierce Munsey by a lobster-warp that got wound about one 
end of it, and when pulling it up he broke it in two, leav- 
ing the remainder fast in the mud near the mouth of the 
river where it was imbedded. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 117 

There are several piles of stone to be seen along the 
banks of the Pemaquid River among which, and beneath, 
are the timbers and other parts of vessels some of which I 
can trace the history, and others date too far back to he 
traced. Those stone heaps of such stone as we find about 
here we understand are composed of the ballast of vessels 
whose decaying timbers they now partially cover. When 
we find these heaps composed oilimestone and Jli7it we infer 
the vessels carrying it were from foreign parts. I have 
never been able to learn of any other place where flint 
cobblestones can be found, except on the shores of the 
English Channel and as we know many vessels came here 
from both England and France it is natural to think that 
the pile of flint now scattered over a space of about 12 x 20 
>- feet on the flats at the north end of the peninsula and to 
be seen only at low tide, was used by the builders 
of the vessel that carried it as the most convenient and 
least expensive material to be had where it was constructed, 
as the custom is here to gather the cobblestones most con- 
venient for ballast. 

I have one piece of timber from this locality and 
that is marked by having a hole bored through it. No 
doubt that vessel was built during the good old "Pod- 
Auger Times " which one of our citizens often sings about. 
The limestone ballast found further up the river we trace 
to the West Indies. Another foreign mineral found on the 
site of the settlement across the river is coquina. These 
mineral relics are the principal and ever lasting remains of 
former navigation that once made this place famous. 

Gone are the ships that brought these fragments to our shore; 
Silent are they and yet we wish that they could tell us more, 
Still is the voice, and guiding hands 
That shaped their course from foreign lands. 



CHAPTEK XXII. 

THE REMAINS OF AN OLD WHARF. 

Destructive work of worms and the elements — Excavating founda- 
tions of the old wharf. 

BLTHOUGH there must have been many wharves or 
landing places for vessels and boats on the shore of 
these harbors and up the river at the other settlements, 
there is only one place I have yet examined that indicates a 
substantial structure of ancient origin now left. 

Beside the destructive work of the worms, as described 
in the last chapter, there are other agents of perpetual 
destruction. Unusual high tides, heavy swells and ice 
formation on both rocks and timbers often lift them from 
their beds, and with the swift current they are carried 
miles away landing on some other shore, or in the case of 
the stone used for ballast on the cob-work wharves, 
dropped to the bottom of the bay or sea outside, when the 
sun and w^armer water of the ocean loosen the ice grip that 
picked them up from their former resting place. 

A good illustration of this work of destruction l)y 
nature has been furnished within the last decade, on the 
Eastern bank of this river about half way from the 
mouth to Pemaquid Falls. 

A few years ago, 1890, I think, the winter was so mild 
that very little ice was secured south of New England, and 
the price ruled high. At Boyd's Pond, a tributary of the 
Pemaquid, a short distance above the Falls, there was a good 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 119 

supply of excellent quality. A company of Bristol people 
began operations to cut, stack, ship and market it at New 
York, where it sold readily at four dollars per ton. Many 
men with ox and horse teams were engaged in hauling it 
from the pond to the shore ; a wharf was built, large ves- 
sels were filled and dispatched from it. And what remains 
to be seen of all that industry to-day ? Simply tivo lone 
piles of that wharf so far upon the bank of the river that 
the ice has not yet pulled them from their bed or with the 
swift current broken them ofl' like their companions farther 
out in the river where it could reach them. 

No stranger that happens to notice those two simple 
sun bleached posts can tell their history ; and yet they are 
a fair example of many simple relics yet found here, all 
now left to tell the tale of past life and industry connected 
with them. If in one decade the index of a large industry 
is nearly obliterated by the natural elements, what can we 
expect would occur in two or three centuries with not alone 
the elements of nature, but the help of man to obliterate 
evidence of past occupation. 

If " eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," eternal 
watchfulness is the price of success in any business con- 
nected with the ceaseless changes of the elements about the 
ocean as every mariner well knows. 

A few years ago a gentleman named "William Upham, a 
former resident of this place, but now of Melrose, Massa- 
chusetts, came here with his family on their regular sum- 
mer vacation tour and to visit their friends and relatives. 
Having a good opportunity one day, we determined to 
make an investigation of a spot on the east side of the har- 
bor and river, a little distance above the site of the ship- 
yard and a short distance west of the canning factory. An 
oval heap of rocks overgrown with clinging clusters of 



120 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

rockweed, one lone log denuded of the bark, and only 
partly exposed, were all the visible indications we had to 
begin with. 

With crowbar, shovels and hoe, we soon exposed the 
framework foundation of the pier of an ancient wharf about 
twenty-two feet square, of the type called " cob work," 
that is having the logs piled flatways, with the ends across 
each other as the country farmers' children pile up corn- 
cobs to form their play-houses. The ends of these logs are 
fitted together by scarfing with an ax, and then secured by 
great iron bolts driven through them to hold them in place. 
A floor of logs is made over the first layer of the pier 
and on that is piled many tons of rocks which keep the 
structure from floating and hold it securely in place. 

By clearing away the stone and digging a few hours, 
we found eleven logs mostly buried l)eneath stone and 
gravel, all lying firmly as originally placed in their beds. 
The lowest log we excavated ; w^e were surprised to find 
the bark still sound upon it, and that it was thirty inches in 
diameter. There are no trees now growing near in this 
vicinity so large as that. The worm-eaten stumps of up- 
risht ijilino- were found buried alonof the river side of the 
pier that were evidently placed there for vessels to lie 
against while loading or discharging. 

We found by measuring that it was eighty-five feet to 
the bank of the river. Reason teaches us that that pier 
must have once been some twelve feet higher than now, as 
the tide rises from ten to twelve feet here ; and there must 
have been a bridge with other piers or strong supports to 
connect with the shore. By what other means could the 
cargoes of vessels landing there have l)een loaded or dis- 
charged. A wharf there would have been in just the 
right position to connect with the paved street dug up 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 121 

in 1855 by Mr. Yarley, which leads down to the shore 
from the buryiug-ground. 

In close proximity are many old cellars still to be 
traced by slight depressions in the soil, one larger than the 
rest is said to l)e the locality of the former Custom House, 
from which Mr. Alexander Batchelor, who once had charge 
of the canning factory here, dug out many relics several 
years ago. 

By driving the crowbar deep down in the sand, we 
traced other timber between the pier and the shore, which 
must be the foundation of that part connecting it with the 
mainland. All above the tide water has of course decayed ; 
that below, if there was another pier outside the one exam- 
ined, must have long since been eaten by the wood worms, 
but the few remaining timbers of this one l^eing located 
just between low and high w\ater mark, where they can 
never become entirely dry to decay or are continually suli- 
merged beneath the water, have escaped destruction thus 
far. The natural elements have had some assistance on 
that structure as well as many others about here to destroy 
instead of preserving what remains of interest. 

I am informed by Mr. Frank Chadwick, a long time 
resident of this place, that he can remember when there 
were many more timbers of this wharf in place on that 
pier, and a man from New Harbor having a vessel ashore 
up in McCaflrey's Creek, that he wished to repair, vvent 
there and with a yoke of oxen took away a part of the logs 
to shore up or support his vessel while he repaired it. 
Mr. Partridge found out what he was doing and stopped 
him before he got it all torn down. Said he, "Mr. 
Charles Tibbetts who died some twenty years ago at the 
age of eighty years, told me that that pier stood there when 
he was a boy and no one then knew who built it or when it 
was built." 



122 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Mr. Austin Bradley, the modern wharf builder of this 
locality, said to me, " When we began to build the wharf 
up there for the canning factory we intended to have it just 
where that old one is, but finally built it just above where 
it now stands, to get clear of the old one that we found in 
our way there." I secured two short pieces of the upper- 
most log ; one with a large scarf cut into the side where the 
mark of an ax blade could be plainly seen measuring ten 
inches across it, indicating that a wide bladed ax did the 
work. I have secured some relics from each of these places 
described to place on exhibition with the other collections 
here where they belong. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE OLD SHIPYARD. 

Records obtained at Massachusetts about shipbuilding here — One 
of which a Quaker was interested in — Some account of them 
at Pemaquid. 

H SHORT distance north of the old fort house on the 
south shore of the harbor, there now stands a small 
building used as a fish-house. Near that a deep square well 
has been dug to supply water for the canning-factory : a 
large pile of rough stones that were blown out when the 
well was dug, still remain close by it. Pointing to the 
lowest part of that tract of land which is marked on the 
map King's Landing, Uncle Jim remarked: "I have 
ploughed up shoivels and chips of timbers, and suppose that 
was w^here the shipyard was located." 

I have never been able to find the word ' ' showel " in 
any dictionary, but ship-builders describe them as pieces of 
plank laid upon the ground to support the upright parts of 
their staging and other timbers to hold up the ship's frame 
while being constructed, which would without them sink 
deep in the soil, and be unsteady. Uncle Jim had worked 
several years in shipyards and consequently ought to be a 
good judge of the relics which he found there. 

When excavations were first made a barrel or small 
hogshead was found buried in the ground the top being 
covered some two feet below the surface, indicating that 
the early settlers obtained a supply of water there a long 
time ago. I secured pipe-fragments, bolts, large hand- 



124 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

made spikes, treenails and wood with holes ])ored through 
it, an odd piece of iron which seemed to have been made 
for an ornament. 

We find a record of several vessels having been built 
at Pemaquid in the Massachusetts Archives, Vol. VII., p. 
126. " Sloop James and Thomas. Capt. James Bevan, a 
Quaker affirmed — sloop of thirty-five tons burthen, built 
at Pemaquid in 1695. Capt. John Eeed of Antiqua and 
himself owners. Registered at Boston Nov. 19, 1698." 

It seems by the above that there were some Quakers 
or Friends here. There was once a meeting-house belong- 
ing to that sect at Bremen, and the old burying-ground 
there is still walled in with stone. They came here soon 
after the revolution ; I have never learned of their being 
persecuted here or hung for their religious belief as they 
were by the Puritans on the Old Elm of Boston Common. 
Since the first settlement of this place to the present time I 
have never learned of the persecution of any sect or creed 
for their honest religious convictions, or of being fined or 
imprisoned as the Quakers were by the Pilgrims of the 
Plymouth Colony from 1660 to 1684. 

While visiting at Mr. James Donnell's, a descendant 
of one of the Friends formerly residing at Bremen, they 
told me many stories about the early Friends or Quakers, 
their meeting-house, burying-ground, etc. One of their 
number who always had been a consistent member of the 
society, had been greatly annoyed by the depredations of 
the British during the war of 1812. He came into the 
house one day in a great rage and stripping off his swallow- 
tail coat, and broad-brimmed gray hat flung them down in 
one corner of the room with the exclamation " Thee lay 
there Quaker till we thrash these British scoundrels." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 125 

Then he joined his neighbors and assisted to drive the 
enemy from their shores. 

The following are some of the names of the Friends 
connected with the Bremen meeting. " Ezekiel Farrar, 
Wm. Keen, Hannah Farrar, John Donnell, James Warner, 
Wm. Hilton and wife, and Peter Hussey were prominent 
members of the society during the latter years of its 
existence. Peter Hussey was a man of considerable in- 
fluence in the community, and was a member of the board 
of selectmen for several years (1820-1822)." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE OLD BURYING-GROUND. 

A field of graves — The modern wall about the present yard — Care 
of by Pemaquid Improvement Association — Destruction of 
tablets by vandals — Marble, slate and natural stone tablets, 
a great variety — Reason why we have not tablets with 
earlier dates — The natural stone with the date of 1695 — The 
oak tablet of the French Admiral's wife — Digging up bones 
of the early settlers — Mr. Partridge's story — Queer epi- 
taphs, one of Morgan McCaffrey — Rogers and Nichols, feud 
between them — History connected with the old burying- 
ground. 

Smile on, fair river, flowing to the sea. 
And chant, O Sea, your anthem evermore; 
Seasons shall roll, and human life shall be 
Golden with hope as life hath been before; 
The sacred records of the dead remain. 
And faithful history calls them from the past; 
Their feet shall tread with ours the distant plain, 
Whose shining space outspreads sublime and vast. 

The tumult of the nations rises still, 
The shout of war, the grateful hymn of peace; 
The torch of science gleams from hill to hill. 
While glowing stores in realms of art increase; 
And some more prosperous city yet may rise 
O'er ancient Jamestown with its field of graves, 
And passing ships may hail with glad surprise 
Its white towers gleaming o'er the glittering waves. 

M. W. Hackelton. 

^Jj* IX granite and marble monuments are the most con- 
*^ spicuous objects now visible inside the rough stone 
wall enclosure of to-day. When Mr. Partridge came here 
the whole upper end of the field had become a public 
burial-ground and people were brought here from the 




THE ANCIENT BURYING-GROUND. 




MCCAFFREY'S AND OTHER GRAVESTONES. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 127 

Point, New Harbor, Long Cove and other places for 
burial. He said, " I thought they would bury my field all 
over so I had to fence in that place to prevent it." 

First a wooden rail and slat fence was erected, sup- 
ported by iron posts set into large stones. When that 
decayed about twenty-five years ago, an organization was 
formed of people from difierent parts of the town who had 
friends and relatives buried there and they discussed the 
subject of building a substantial fence about the yard. 
Some thought iron with stone posts the best, and others 
wanted a plain wall of natural stone. The latter prevailed 
and the wall we see to-day is the result of that decision, 
having an iron turn-stile and double iron gates for access 
to the yard from the west end. 

William Hackelton, Esq., once a prominent citizen 
here, a carpenter and builder, Sabbath-school teacher and 
justice of the peace, whose monument stands on the high- 
est point of land in the yard, was one of the leading men in 
this movement and assisted in constructing the wall. 
Capt. Luther Davis was chosen sexton. 

The most of those people have "joined the innumer- 
able caravan that moves to the pale realms of shade," and 
the old yard had been neglected for several years until the 
Pemaquid Improvement Association appointed Mr. Henry 
Partridge and Mr. George N. Lewis to cut the grass and 
look after it. A notice has been put up to stop vandals 
from destroying or disfiguring the tablets as some have 
done in times past. 

I think vandals none too harsh a word to use, for those 
people who have no more respect for themselves, the dead, 
or their living friends, than to mar, deface, or destroy the 
tablets of those who lie helpless beneath them. They are 
robbers too, when they take away or deface that which 



128 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

others have as good right to see here, or where ever they 
belong, as themselves. How much better and more reason- 
able to obtain a picture as cheap as they are now, and leave 
choice and sacred relics just as they are found ; and just 
where they belong. 

The monuments and other light colored tablets mark 
the resting places of modern citizens. The dark slate 
which I have been informed came from Wales, England, 
points out those of earlier date. They are similar to those 
seen about the Old King's Chapel at Boston, and many 
other settlements of the early colonists all along the New 
England shores. 

Rude field stones, or simple mounds only, mark the rest- 
ing place of those long since forgotten or who perhaps were 
too poor to obtain them from across the ocean, before they 
were made here, or they might have shared in the belief of 
many others of their time, thinking it was wrong to have 
anything put up to mark their final resting place. When 
they got so they would sanction a headstone another period 
of time elapsed before they would sanction dates and 
names. 

As an illustration we have a natural stone about three 
feet long and about one wide in the wndest part, that used 
to stand in the field about one hundred feet northwest of 
the entrance to the present yard. The inscription upon it 
reads as follows: "HM. 1695." H. M. are said to be the 
initials for Sergeant Hugh March. 

From Johnson's history we learn that on " September 
9th (1695), as a number of men were rowing a gondola 
'around a high rocky point above the barbacan,' they were 
fired upon by some Indians, and four killed and six 
wounded. The killed were Serg. Hugh March, Ed. Sar- 
geant, John Linkhorn, and Thos. Johnson." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 129 

In 1888, I found this stone lying ao^ainst the inside of 
the western wall of the yard, minus a _o;ood size fragment 
from the upper corner, that robs it of half the figures of the 
date, the earliest cut on any stone found here. Fortunate- 
ly a record of the inscription was secured before it was 
defaced. I got permission of the owners of the place to 
remove the stone to a place of safety, where any one inter- 
ested can see it. 

Another tablet used to stand in the field near the same 
locality, as the one above mentioned. During the winter 
of 1896, I met Miss Margaret Martin and her brother, then 
residing on Pemaquid Point ; they both had retentive mem- 
mories and told me many tales of the old settlers. In 
answer to my question about the old tablet. Miss Martin 
said, " I remember there used to be a grave there marked 
with a thick plank at the head, with the name of a lady and 
other inscriptions on it. The letters were carved out of the 
wood and lead run in to fill^,the spaces." 

Parson Alexander McLain was sent for to translate the 
inscription on it, and learned that it was the wife of a 
French Admiral that died on board his ship in this locality, 
and he had her remains brought up there in a boat and 
buried. They said the name was Abishable or Abashabee 
Hunt. Capt. Robert Martin, her brother, said, '• My 
father and Jim Curtis went up to the beach clamming and 
Jim wanted some lead to run up into shot to shoot birds 
with and he pried out the lead with his jack-knife. He had 
a " bran " new one and he broke the blade off. There was a 
round piece of lead as big as a saucer nailed on to the 
headboard with the likeness of the woman on it." 

Mr. Partridge informed me that soon after he came 
here a stranger called on him and requested permission to 
dig open that grave, but he would not give his consent; 



130 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

but the man got up in the night and dug up the remains 
and then told Mr. Partridge that he had found them to be 
those of a woman as he could tell by the hair and bones. 
By his mysterious actions Mr. Partridge thought he had 
some other object in view beside that of satisfying his 
curiosity as to the sex of the person buried there. 

Soon after I came here Mr. Samuel Martin, a brother 
of Margaret and Capt. Robert, rode up to the Jamestown, 
and as he sat in the wagon, I inquired if he could 
remember of seeing any graves of people that were buried 
in the field between the southern wall and the shore of the 
creek pointing to the locality which we could plainly see. 
*' Yes," said he, "I remember when Capt. N. owned this 
place ; he did not care for God, man or the d — 1, and he 
made his men plough right over them graves and one of 
the oxen broke through into one that caved in and they had 
hard work to get him out again." 

Some four years ago as I stood on the Old Fort Rock 
with a small company of people after showing the different 
points of historic interest in plain view from that location, 
the antiquity of the old burying-ground was referred to. I 
remarked that I had never known a grave to be dug there 
without finding the remains of those previously buried. 
One of the company, Mr. Robert Poland, then remarked, 
*' Yes, I used to dig graves there forty-eight years ago and 
I have taken out the skull and other bones of a dozen 
people while digging one grave." 

After some Indian raid and massacre on the settlement 
a large number might have been buried in one grave ; 
on no other occasion would they be likely to be buried in 
that manner. 

Mr. Partridge told me the following story. "Soon 
after that wall was built, a family from the Point having an 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 131 

interest with the new organization for its care and protec- 
tion, decided to remove some of the remains of their 
friends, then buried there, to this yard. It was done 
while I was gone away to camp-meeting." (It was his 
custom to take his wife and attend camp-meeting every 
year, and they would sometimes be away two weeks visit- 
ing their friends and relatives in the country.) "When I 
returned I found they had buried three of their people 
there, and dug up the remains of foiir others and left their 
bones on the surface of the ground." 

From the accounts I have heard of remains of human 
beings found in and about this yard, of the old forts, on 
Fish Point, and other places in this vicinity, it seems Mrs. 
Hackelton was right when in her beautiful poem she refers 
to *' Ancient Jamestown with its field of Graves." 

Most of the old slate stones remaining in the yard 
to-day have queer inscriptions to ornament the face of 
the headstones, representing weeping willows, skulls, and 
cross-bones. Some of the headstones bear queer epitaphs. 
The headstone of Morgan McCaffrey, previously spoken 
of in the chapter on " old cellars," has the following quaint 
inscription: "In memory of Mr. Morgan McCaflrey, 
who died July 20th, 1768, aged 35 years. 

Behold my dad is gone, 
And leaves me here to morn; 
But hope in Christ I have, 
That he and I will save." 

Capt. Martin informed me that this verse was com- 
posed by Mr. McCaffrey's daughter Jennie, who was 
afiiicted not only by the loss of her father, but her brother 
also was drowned in a well between their house and the 
head of the creek. 



132 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Another very large slate stone near the east end of the 
yard has upon it the following inscription : "In memory of 
Mr. Thomas Holden, who died May 19th, 1784, age 75 
years. Likewise Mrs. Esther, his wife died Feb. 6th, 
1785, age 64 years. 

Behold we are confined in dust, 

And here we must remain, 
Till Jesus who redeemed us 

Bids us rise again." 

Amonof the first slate stones that we notice near the 
west entrance to the old yard are those of several members 
of the Rogers family. The most modern ones bear the 
following inscriptions ; 

"Miss Elizabeth Rogers died in Bristol Jan, 20th, 
1830, aged 87." 

"Miss Mary Rogers died Sept. 27th, 1847, aged 91." 

The above named maiden ladies were two sisters, 
called by the old settlers "Betty" and "Polly" Rogers. 
They owned several lots of land located just north of the 
old fort house. Capt. John Nichols had obtained by pur- 
chase all the other lots of which the old fort field was 
composed, but these ladies would never sell theirs to 
him during their lifetime, on account of an old grudge 
between the two families. I have been informed that 
this ill-feeling was brought about by competition between 
two ofiicers connected with the old Fort. At one time 
the Colonial Government having an important dispatch 
to send through the wilderness to Canada, entrusted one 
copy with each ofiicer whose names were Nichols and 
Rogers, offering as a prize to the one who should first 
succeed in delivering his dispatch at its destination the 
command of this fort at Pemaquid. Nichols got the 
advantage of his companion by employing an expert 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 133 

Indian guide, and consequently gained the prize. This 
was a severe disappointment to young Rogers who was 
entitled by the natural order of promotion to be the 
commander of the fort. This circumstance caused ill- 
feeling between the two families during the remainder of 
their lives. 

There is history enough connected with this old burial- 
ground to fill a good sized volume, and all the monuments 
and tablets connected with it ought to be photographed and 
their inscriptions preserved. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

VISITS OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

rield-days of the Historical Society in 1869 and 18T1 — Address of 
welcome on Aug. 25th, 1871, by Hon. E. W. Farley — Addresses 
by the President, Hon. E. E. Bourne, and others — Testimony 
of Wm. Hackelton, Esq., concerning paved streets, etc. — Site 
of another Fort across the river visited. 

'ROM the reports of the Field Days of the Maine His- 
torical Society, published at the time, I obtain the 
following account of the exercises : — 

After an address of welcome by the Hon. E. W. Farley, 
in which he called attention to the proposed monument to 
be here erected, he concluded by saying: "Maine has 
not had justice done to her historic importance." 

Mr. Farley was follow^ed by Hon. E. E. Bourne, pres- 
ident of the Society, who said that evidence is rapidly 
accumulating, that here the first action of civilization in 
New England commenced — an important fact. He 
thought the researches now going on in the great libraries 
of Europe, would soon result in a mass of testimony with 
which we shall be able in a few years to satisfy everybody 
that this was so. 

He alluded to the controversy with Massachusetts, as 
to priority of settlement, and read several extracts from 
undoubted authorities in regard to Pemaquid. One from 
Thornton (of Massachusetts) he thought worthy to be 
inscribed on the proposed monument: "This was the 
initial of New England colonization." Judge Bourne 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 135 

excused himself from speaking at length as he said he was 
suffering from a severe cold and deemed it imprudent to 
continue. 

J. H. Hackelton, Esq., of Bristol was then introduced. 
He spoke of the incredulity with which many people regard 
the evidences of the existence of an ancient cit}^ with paved 
streets at Pemaquid, and said he did not propose to quote 
history, but would produce a few evidences of what Pema- 
quid has to say for itself. Mr. Hackelton then proceeded 
to read extracts from several affidavits showing what the 
present inhabitants know about the remains. 

Mr. Robbins testified that in 1840-41, a paved street 
(a section of which was unearthed to-day,) extended from 
the shore to the old cemetery. The former owners 
removed all traces possible owing to the value of the tillage 
land. He described the street as about fifteen feet wide. 
He filled many walled cellars. The walls of Fort Wm. 
Henry were then from three to five feet high. 

Henry Varley testified that in 1835 he was employed 
by Capt. John Nichols and was engaged with other men 
more than one week in digging up the pavement of one 
street. Filled up twelve walled cellars on west street, 
near the bank of the river. 

Waterman Hatch testified that in 1825 there was a 
paved street running from the shore to the cemetery, con- 
firmed the statement of Varley and stated that he saw 
twenty cellars on the street which was north of Part- 
ridge's house and extended to the river ; also saw a large 
lot of human l)ones, dug up near the wall of the Fort, and 
dug into what appeared to be the remains of a pipe factory. 

John Stinson was employed by Capt. Nichols in 1835 
to fill cellars ; counted 300 ; confirmed statement of Varley 
and Robbins. 



136 TEN YEAKS AT PEMAQUID. 

Mr. Hackelton stated that this evidence had been 
taken at different times and places, and most of it sworn 
to before him as justice. That there were also cellars at 
Fish Point, w^here the porgy oil factory is now — unfortu- 
nately — situated. There w^as also a settlement at Long 
Cove and New Harbor. John Brown resided at New 
Harbor. A Mr. Thompson of New Harbor testified that 
seventeen cellars were found there under a heavy growth 
of wood, near the shore, and a fort 51 x 52 feet, with 
walls five feet thick, on which large oaks were growing 
forty-seven years ago. 

The speaker then gave some statements in regard to 
a mill-stone and other relics found in the vicinity, one of 
which was evidently a leaden tag, such as was formerly 
used on imported broadcloth, and bore the date of IGIO. 

The next speaker was Charles H. Tuttle, Esq., of 
Boston, who commenced by alluding to the wreck of the 
" Angel Gabriel" in Pemaquid Harbor in 1635. An ances- 
tor of his, John Tuttle, was one of the passengers in this 
ship and saved from the wreck the Geneva Bible, which 
was exhibited to the society at Portsmouth last year. He 
said he had been surprised to-day at what he had seen. 
He had heard of paved streets at Pemaquid, as perfect as 
any in Boston — a fact that many Massachusetts men find 
it hard to believe — but to-day he had seen and walked 
upon that pavement, and was convinced. 

Charles Dean, Esq., Secretary of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, spoke enthusiastically of the magnifi- 
cent bays and headlands of this coast and of the beautiful 
scenery in the vicinity. Alluding to the mysteries of the 
ancient settlement he said that one reason we have no 
accounts of it is that the chain of tradition was broken by 
the entire depopulation of the place, and more than twenty 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 137 

years elapsed before it was re-settled. Maine, he said, 
was the oldest spot on the earth for here were Laurentian 
hills, and here the green fields first appeared above the 
waste of waters. Maine, therefore, can claim great 
antiquity. 

Prof. John Johnston, of Middletown,Ct., then addressed 
the meeting and gave many interesting items in relation to 
the place. Prof. Johnston was then about to publish a 
history of Pemaquid. 

The exercises at the stand here terminated, and the 
assembly, at about 4 p.3i., adjourned to the dinner tent, 
where a bountiful collation had been prepared. Owing to 
the great disappointment of the people at the non-arrival 
of so many persons, by the barge, it was decided to con- 
tinue the exercises another day, and word was according- 
ly sent to the surrounding towns to that effect. 

The Second Day. 

The weather proved fine on Friday and at an early 
hour the people began to assemble. The Damariscotta 
Cornet Band was on hand and added to the pleasure of the 
occasion by discoursing fine music. Long Cove sent a 
delegation of singing maidens, in a gaily decorated rustic 
car, and heavily loaded boats and teams came from all the 
country 'round. At 11 a.m. the assembly was called to 
order by the chairman, and the proceedings were opened 
by a prayer by liev. Wm. A. Drew, of Augusta. Mr. 
Blaney then made some remarks concerning the monument 
and announced that a site for it had been donated ])y Mr. 
Partridge, the owner of the land on which they were 
assembled. Also that the l)ooks were now opened and 
$1.00 would make any one a member of the association. 



138 TEN YEARS AT PEIVIAQUID. 

Judge Bourne then resumed his remarks and repeated 
his quotation from Thornton, which he deemed of the 
utmost importance, coming as it did from a Massachusetts 
man. He also quoted from Increase Mather and others. 
Mr, Bourne said, \vq don't set up anything against the 
Pilgrims, and paid an eloquent tribute to those brave men 
who landed on Plymouth Rock, in the course of which he 
said that there is no evidence that the Pilgrims ever perse- 
cuted any one. He mentioned as a curious fact that in the 
Massachusetts almanacs, from 1770 to 1820, no mention is 
made of the landing of the Pilgrims ! So he thought noth- 
ing could be said aljout our commencing the observance of 
our anniversaries at so late a date. The speaker endeav- 
ored to get up a good-natured discussion on some of these 
historical questions with Mr. Dean, of Boston, but in reply 
Mr. Dean said he was a native of Maine and as this 
was not ' ' Popham Day " he didn't propose to enter into 
any discussion. He then gave some facts in relation to the 
early voyages, and stated that Pemaquid was first men- 
tioned by name in a paper called "A Description of 
Mavooshen," in 1602-3-4, up to 1609, which calls the river 
Pemaquid, although not correct in its location. Strachey's 
narrative speaks of " the little river Pemaquid." Capt. 
Smith landed at Monhegan in 1614; mentions a ship of Sir 
Francis Popham lying at Pemaquid, which he puts down as 
" St. John's town." The bay is now known as John's bay. 

Mr. C. H. Tuttle then made some remarks, in which 
he said that we had here relics of an archseology not found 
in Massachusetts. There they had records of all the places 
from settlement, here we had ruins of a people whose very 
existence was forgotten. We found here spoons made in 
the reign of Elizabeth, and pipes dating from 1600. Mr. 
Tuttle was broken off in the very commencement of his re- 



TEX YEARS x\T PEMAQUID. 139 

marks by the call to dinner, much to the regret of the audi- 
ence, who manifested unusual interest in his address and 
expected it to be resumed after dinner, but for some reason 
it was not. 

Dinner was served in the big tent, and after the wants 
of the inner man were attended to, the crowd again as- 
sembled at the stand. President Wood, late of Bowdoin 
College, was introduced and spoke at some length. In 
the course of his remarks he mentioned that he just over- 
heard a young lady remark of the members of the Histor- 
ical Society present : "If these are fossils they are the 
spryest fossils I ever saw !" He paid a well merited trib- 
ute to the hospitality of the people of Bristol and expressed 
his pleasure at finding so much interest in historical matters 
manifested by them. 

The chairman here introduced to the audience Mrs. 
Foster of Rockport, a descendant of Thomas Gyles of Pem- 
aquid, whose house was burned, and himself and a part of 
his family murdered by the Indians in 1689. 

A poem, entitled " A Tale of the Winding River," was 
then read by its author, Mrs. M. W. Hackelton of Bristol. 
It was a fine production and was beautifully and impressive- 
ly delivered by its fair author, who was loudly applauded. 

At 2 P.M. the meeting was adjourned to the tent and 
continued by remarks from Messrs. Farley, Hackelton, 
Drew, Blaney, and others, after which the Committee of 
the Society visited the Lewis farm on the opposite side of 
the river, and examined the remains of fortifications, cel- 
lars, tan-pits, etc., at that place — the remains of a settle- 
ment, of which there is no history or tradition. 



PAKT III. 

CHAPTEK XXVI. 

FORTIFICATIONS. 

The old Forts of Pemaquid — More forts built and destroyed here 
than in any other locality in the United States — Bomb-shells 
first used here in this country — Size of guns, shot and shell 
compared with the modern — Early warfare between ships 
and forts with artillery — These forts a protection for the in- 
habitants for many years — The first fort at Pemaquid — Date 
of construction — No necessity for one for protection from 
the Indians — Plundered by Dixie Bull. 

ll^ROBABLY no other place in the United States has 
ggV equal distinction with the Old Fort Rock of Pema- 
quid, in having four forts built and destroyed before the 
Union of States was formed. Here, too, we claim the fierce 
buzz of the deadly round bomb-shell first startled the Eng- 
lish colonists ; as fragments of the shells have been gathered 
about here for many years. None of the battles fought 
here were very sanguinary or desperate in comparison with 
those of modern warfare. The caliber of the guns was 
small; the shot, shell, and fragments of guns found here 
recently are of rude make. About one mile seems to be 
the distance the shot could be fired by the French guns. 
It must be remembered that fighting between ships 
and stone fortifications may be said to have been in its in- 
fancy and both parties in the case of attack on the first 
stone fort here exhibited their lack of experience in this 
kind of warfare. The French, awed by the formidable 




SITE OF A PART OF THE OLD FORT. 
showing the location of one cellar and rock looking west. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 141 

appearance of Fort William Henry, sailed away without 
firing a shot. Then, when three frigates put in an appear- 
ance on one side and hundreds of Indians on the other, and 
the murderous shells dropped down among them from the 
high hills beyond the river, the English were terrified by 
threats of horrid treatment by the Indians, and surrendered, 
after one day of resistance, a fort which the French com- 
mander afterwards acknowledged he doubted if he could 
have captured if the English had held out against him. 

But for many years these forts served well their pur- 
pose as a safe protection from the Indians after they began 
to quarrel with the white man. They were a haven of 
refuge for the people for many miles around. Wherever 
you may travel about this old town of Bristol you can hear 
stories of scenes enacted about the forts at Pemaquid 
handed down by tradition by the older people, and by 
others back in the country for many miles. 

The First Fort Called Pemaquid, or Shunt's Fort. 

Like the settlements here at different periods, the 
forts have been distinguished by different names each time 
they were built anew. The first was called Pemaquid or per- 
haps Shurt's Fort. No doubt this was a simple block-house, 
and might have been used for a public storehouse too. 
One authority gives 1624 as the date of its construction, 
and informs us that it stood until King Philip's War in 
1676. 

There could have been no necessity for protection 
from the natives, at least the noble tribe of Wawenocks, 
for we have shown that they were friendly to the whites. 
Prof. Johnston writes, "It seems to have been intended 
rather for a protection against renegades and pirates that 



142 TEX YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

were beirinnins: to infest the coast." "One of those men 
was Mr. Isaac AUerton, a passenger on the Mayflower, 
who was discarded by the Pilgrims. He chartered a ship 
in England, loaded her heavily, and set forth again with a 
most wicked and drunken crew. He set up a company of 
base fellows and made them traders to run into every hole 
and into the river of Kennebec in a manner altogether con- 
trary to the established rules of trade. Among the noted 
characters of that period who sought illegal trade with the 
natives, was the pirate Dixie Bull. One of the vessels 
captured by him was commanded by Capt. Anthony Dix, 
who came to Plymouth in 1623." 

Cominofto Pemaquid in 1632, he seems not to have met 
much resistance in his attack on the fort, and soon plun- 
dered it and many of the neighboring planters. Bull lost 
one of his principal men by a shot fired by one of Shurt's 
men, as he was about weighing anchor in haste to escape 
the fury of the gathering people now aroused to vengeance. 

Information of Bull's plunderings here was trans- 
mitted to Gov. Winthrop at Boston, and four small vessels 
with forty men were sent here and others joined in the pur- 
suit, but the pirates had gone east and escaped. Little 
more is known of Dixie Bull, but it is said he was finally 
taken to England where he suffered the just reward of his 
villainous deeds. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

FORT CHARLES. 

1677-1689 — The second fort built by Sir Edmond Andros — The 
County of Cornwall — Destruction of Fort Charles — Care- 
fully laid plans by the French and Indians — Surprise of the 
English complete — The Indians use the great rock and stone 
houses for shelter — Terms of surrender — About fifty cap- 
tives taken — Fort and settlement destroyed — List of sol- 
diers — Lieutenant Weems' "Accompf'of his payments — 
Relation of Grace Higiman — Her suffering — Thomas Gyles, 
one of the chief men of this place — His farm and workmen 
at the Falls — His barbarous murder — His last prayer — A 
useful and upright man — His family — John Gyles a cap- 
tive — Afterwards interpreter for the government and com- 
mander of a fort — The elated Indians talk of an attack upon 
Boston. 

j^ORT Charles, which has been described in a previous 
^11 chapter, page 70, was the second fort erected here. 
It was built in 1677 under the direction of Sir Edmond 
Andros when colonial governor of New York, and this 
territory which was then called Cornwall. Like the first it 
was also a wooden fort, two stories high, with a stockade, 
or high fence, to keep the Indians away from it. At the 
time this fort was destroyed, August, 1689, the English 
and French were not engaged in open warfare, but Castine 
was smarting under the insult of Sir Edmond Andros in 
the year previous when he pillaged his home at Castine and 
so was ready to urge and assist the Indians in their work 
of destruction. Very carefully laid plans were matured for 
the attack. The destruction of this fort was evidently 



144 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

planned at Castine by Baron De Castine and M. Tliiu\y, the 
Jesuit priest. 

From Professor Johnston's History of Bristol, I gather 
some of the statements in the following narrative of the 
affair. The number of Indians who engaged in the 
expedition is supposed to have been over one hundred. 
To secure the aid of the God of battles, they all confessed 
and partook of the sacrament ; made arrangements with the 
priest for their wives and children to continue the same 
devotions during the whole time they should be absent 
fighting against the heretics, as they called the English, — 
even during the time usually allowed for sleep, — by estab- 
lishing a perpetual rosary in their chapel. 

Three canoes were sent on ahead, to see that the way 
was clear, and the plan was for them to wait two leagues 
from the fort. It seems that Round Pond must have been 
their place of meeting. After landing they marched in a 
body with great caution toward the settlement. Charlevoix 
tells that on their way they took three prisoners from 
whom they learned that there were about one hundred men 
in the fort and village, scattered about their work uncon- 
scious of danger." 

Mather's account says, " On August 2d, one Starkey 
going early in the morning from the fort at Pemaquid unto 
New Harbor, fell into the hands of the Indians, who to 
obtain his own liberty informed them that the fort had at 
that instant but few men in it, and that one Mr. Giles with 
fourteen men, was gone up to his farm, and the rest scat- 
tered abroad about their occasions. The Indians hereupon 
divided their little army ; part going up to the Falls, killed 
Mr. Giles and others ; part upon the advantage of the tide, 
snapt the rest before they could recover the fort." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 145 

No attack by the Indians upon a civilized settlement 
was ever better planned than this, or more completely car- 
ried out. The party sent to the fort, when the attack 
began took their position between the fort and the village 
so as to prevent any communication between them, and to 
cut off the men as they came in from the fields ; while the 
party sent to the falls took care to intercept any that might 
attempt to escape in the direction of the fort. Besides 
this, the attack seems to have been made at the time of low 
water, when the boats in which the men had gone up from 
the fort could not be made available. All the arrange- 
ments had been made with such profound secrecy that the 
surprise of the English was complete ; until the moment 
the attack began, the English had no suspicion of their 
presence. The fight began by a furious rush of the Indians 
upon the fort and village ; and the report of their guns 
seems to have been the signal for the other parties at a 
distance to perform the parts assigned them. A very few 
of the inhabitants were so fortunate as to get within the 
fort ; and, by the terms of capitulation the next day, were 
allowed to depart with the soldiers to Boston, but nearly 
all were either killed or taken captive. 

According to Charlevoix, immediately after the attack 
began, the commander of the fort opened fire upon the 
besiegers with his heavy cannon, but it had no effect to 
prevent the Indians from taking possession of ten or twelve 
stone houses, which were situated on a street leading from 
the village to the fort. They also took shelter behind a 
large rock, which stood near the fort on the side towards 
the sea, and in the cellar of a house near by, from both of 
which places they kept up such a fire of musketry upon the 
fort, that no one could show his head above the ramparts. 
This was continued from the time the fight began, about 



146 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

noon, until night ; and when it ceased, on account of the 
darkness, they summoned the commander to surrender the 
fort into their hands, and received as a reply from some 
one within that " he was greatly fatigued, and must have 
some sleep." 

During the night a close watch was kept to prevent any 
one from going in or out of the fort, and at day dawn, the 
firing on both sides was renewed, but in a little time the 
fire from the fort ceased and the commander proposed to 
capitulate it. Terms being agreed upon, the commander 
soon came out, at the head of fourteen men, these being all 
that remained of the garrison. With them came some 
women and children, all with packs upon their backs. 

The terms of surrender included the men of the 
garrison, and the few people of the village who had been so 
fortunate as to get into the fort, with three English cap- 
tives who had previously escaped from the Indians, but 
were now in the fort. They were also to be allowed to 
take of their effects whatever they could carry in their 
hands, and to depart in a sloop taken by the Indians the 
day before, from Capt. Padeshall, w^ho was killed as he 
was landing from his boat. Two others, Capts. Skinner 
and Farnham, were, in like manner, shot down as they 
were stepping on shore from a boat, returning from one of 
the islands. 

In accordance with the terms of capitulation Weems 
and his men, with a few others who were with him in the 
fort, were permitted to depart for Boston ; but all the 
people of the place, men, women and children, who were 
not in the fort, and had not been killed in the fight, were 
compelled to leave with the Indians for the Penobscot 
river, where little was expected but hardship and suffering, 
scarcely less to be dreaded than death itself. They made 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 147 

the passage, some in birch canoes, and the rest in two capt- 
ured sloops. The whole number of captives thus taken 
away was about fifty ; but how many were killed we have 
no means of knowing. 

Charlevoix expressly affirms that after the surrender 
the Indians allowed those within the fort to depart without 
being molested, and contented themselves by saying that if 
they (the English) were wise they would not return again 
to the place, as the Abenaquis had had too much experi- 
ence of their perfidy to allow them to remain in peace ; 
that they were masters of the country, and would never 
suffer to live there a people so inquiet as they, and who 
gave them (the Indians) so much troul)le in the exercise of 
their religion. In one of the cellars he says they found a 
hogshead of brandy ; but they carried their heroic self- 
denial so far that they destroyed it without even tasting it ! 

That Weems acted hastily in surrendering the fort as 
he did, w^ithout further effort in self-defense, is very plain ; 
but we have reason to believe the result would have been 
no less disastrous if the struggle had been prolonged. 
How many of his men were killed during the fight we may 
not certainly know ; but he had with him at the beginning 
just thirty ; and according to Charlevoix, there were only 
fourteen left besides himself at the time of the surrender. 
The number of soldiers killed therefore was sixteen, but 
the same author says the English allowed only a loss of 
seven. He however intimates that the new-made graves 
inside the walls showed a greater number of l)urials. 
Weems himself was badly burned in the face by an acci- 
dental explosion of some gunpowder. 

Accordino; to Charlevoix, some of the Indians after 
thoroughly destroying everything about the fort and set- 
tlement at Pemaquid, desired to proceed further and drive 



148 TEN YEAES AT PEMAQUID. 

the English from an island three or four leagues distant, 
but the greater part were opposed to it. The island 
referred to very probably was either Monhegan, or one of 
the Damariscove group, where there may have been a few 
settlers, or fishermen's huts, of which no record has been 
preserved. 

"A List of ye men that was under ye Command of 
Lieut. James Wemmes when ye Enemy did attack that 
Garrison at Pemaquid in August, 1689." 
Rodger Sparkes gunr, William Jones, 

Paul Mijkam Surgt, Mat Taylor, 

Jones Marroday Copl, Fred<^^ Burnet, 

Robert Smith Drume'^' Rob^ Baxter, 

Ruland Clay, John Bandies, 

John Pershon, Thomas Shaffs, 

William Gullington, John Allen, 

Brugan Org, Rodger Hey don, 

Richard Dicurows, Joseph Mason, 

Thomas Mapleton, John Herdin, 

Rich*i Clifford, Benj. Stanton, 

John Boirnes, Rob^ Lawrence, 

Thomas Barber, Thomas Baker, 

Henry Walton, Orrel James, 

Rob* Jackson, Ralph Praston. 

"Lieutenant Weems' Accompt of his Pay and Dis- 
bursements at the Garrison of Pemaquid, From the 18th 
day of April, 1689 unto the 13th day of august Ensueing 
being 117 days. 

To the Lieut, pay and his servants a 4 ) p^„ ^ 
pence pr Diem S 

To 3^e Gunners pay a 18 do pr day 8 — 15 — 6 

To ye Sergeants pay a 18 do pr Diem 8 — 15 — 6 

To ye Corporals pay a 12 do pr day 5 — 17 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 149 

To ye Drums pay a 12 do pr day 5 — 17 

To the pay of 30 Private men at 

6 do pr Diem 87 — 15 

To Cash Paid for fyre and Candles 7 — 

To Boat hyre in Several Times to give In- ^ 

telligence to Boston of ye Condi- > 6 — 

tion of the Garrison S 



£157— 6 
James Weems." 

The following <' Relation of Grace Higiman," which 
was copied from the Mass. Archives, 8, 36., may be of 
interest to the reader. <' Grace Higiman saith That on the 
second day of August, 1689, the day when Pemaquid was 
assaulted and taken by ye Indians, I was there taken Pris- 
oner and carried away by them, one Eken, a Canada Indian 
pretending to have a right in me, and to be my master. I 
apprehend that there were between two and three hundred 
Indians at that assault (and no French) who continued 
there for two days, and then carried away myselfe and 
other Captives (about fifty in number) unto the Fort at 
Penobscot. I continued there about three years, removing 
from place to place as the Indians occasionally went, and 
was very hardly treated by them both in respects of Pro- 
visions and clothing, having nothing but a torn blanket to 
cover me during the winter seasons, and oftentimes cruelly 
beaten. After I had been with the Indians three years, 
they carried me to Quebeck, and sold me for forty crowns 
unto the French there, who treated mc well, gave me my 
liberty and I had the King's allowance of Provisions, as 
also a Room provided for me, and liberty to work for my- 
selfe. I continued there two years and a halfe, Durino* 
which time of my abode there, several of the Eastern 



150 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Indians came, viz., Bomaseen, Moxis his son, and Madock- 
awando's son and divers others, and brought in English 
Prisoners and Scalps, and received as the French told me 
for each scalp (being paid by the Intendent) Twenty 
French Crowns, according to a Declaration which the 
Governor there had emitted for their encouragemt, and the 
Captives they sold for as much as they could agree with 
the purchasers. The Indians also had a Reward allowed 
them for brinsjing Intelligence from time to time. Soon 
after the Submission made by the Indians at Pemaquid in 
1693, Bomaseen came to Quebeck and brought a paper 
containinor the Substance of the articles of Submission 
which he showed unto me, and told me that the Governour 
of Canada said to him, That he should not have made 
Peace with the English and that he seamed to be much 
displeased for their having so done, however said they 
might carry it friendly to the English, till they should 
meet with a convenient opportunity to do mischief." 

French officials in Canada, in the year 1692, claimed 
that in the various Indian tights of the preceding years, 
they had destroyed for the New Englanders besides Pema- 
quid, no less than sixteen pallisaded forts and settlements, 
in which were twenty cannon and about two hundred men. 

Thomas Gyles, above referred to, was one of three 
brothers who emigrated to this country from Kent, Eng- 
land, probably in 1668 ; the names of the others being- 
James and John. Thomas was one of the chief men of the 
place, and appears to have carried on a considerable busi- 
ness. On the morning of that memorable day when the 
fort was captured, with his three oldest sons, Thomas, 
James and John, and several hired men, he went up to the 
falls, to work in a field he had there, some at haying, and 
some in gathering grain. They la})ored until noon, and 



TEN YRAKS AT PEMAQUID. 151 

took their dinner together at the farmhouse, without sus- 
picion of danger. Having finished their dinner the men 
went to their work ; but Mr. Gyles and two of his sons, 
remained at the house, when suddenly firing was heard 
from the direction of the fort. Mr. Gyles was disposed to 
interpret the occurrence favorably, and so remarked to his 
sons ; but their conversation was cut short by a volley ot 
bullets from a party of Indians who had been hitherto con- 
cealed, awaiting the signal from the fort to begin their 
bloody work ! The party of Indians numbered some thirty 
or forty, who now rising from their ambush, finished their 
work in a few minutes, killing or capturing all except 
Thomas Gyles, the oldest son, then about nineteen. 
Where the latter was when the attack began, we do not 
know, but he was so fortunate as to make his escape 
unhurt from the field, and passing down on the west side 
to Pemaquid harbor, was taken on board a fishing schooner 
which was just ready to sail. 

Thomas Gyles, the father, was mortally wounded by 
the first volley from the Indians, and afterwards despatched 
with a hatchet. His son John who was taken captive, says 
that when the attack was made, " My brother ran one way 
and I another, and looking over my shoulder, I saw a stout 
fellow, painted, pursuing mc v,ith a gun, and a cuthiss 
glittering in his hand, which I expected every moment in 
my brains." Falling down the Indians did him no injury, 
but tied his arms and bade him follow in the direction 
where the men had been at work about the hay. "As we 
went," he says, " we crossed where my father was, who 
looked very pale and bloody, and w^alked very slowly. 
When we came to the place, I saw two men shot down on 
the flats, and one or two knocked on the head with hatch- 
ets. Then the Indians l)rought two captives, one a man. 



152 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

and my brother James, who, with me had endeavored to 
escape by running from the house, when we were first 
attacked." 

At length the savages were ready to start with their 
captives, and the narrative continues, " We marched about 
a quarter of a mile, and then made halt. Here they 
brought my father to us. They made proposals to him by 
old Moxus, who told him that those were strange Indians 
who shot him, and that he was sorry for it. My father 
replied that he was a dying man, and wanted no favor of 
them, but to pray with his children. This being granted 
him, he recommended us to the protection and blessing of 
God Almighty ; then gave us the best advice, and took his 
leave for this life, hoping in God that we should meet in a 
better land. He parted with a cheerful voice, but looked 
very pale, by reason of his great loss of blood, which now 
gushed out of his shoes. The Indians led him aside. I 
heard the blows of the hatchet, but neither shriek nor 
groan. I afterwards heard that he had five or seven shot 
holes through his waistcoat or jacket, and that he was cov- 
ered with some boughs." 

Thomas Gyles, whose useful and honorable life was 
thus brought to a close, was a remarkable man. At what 
time he came to this country is not certainly known, but 
May 8th, 1669, he purchased land on the north side of the 
Pejepscot, or Androscoggin river, a few miles below 
Topsham village, where he located his family and resided 
several years. His father who was a man of considerable 
wealth in England, having died, he, with his family left 
for England prol>ably in 1674, and returned soon after the 
first destruction of the Eno:lish settlements in this remon. 
To avoid troul)le with the Indians, he removed his family 
to Long Island, New York, and lived there several years ; 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 153 

but fancying that the atmosphere there was not suited to 
his constitution, and learning that the agents of the Duke 
of York were about establishing a regular government 
here, and erecting a fort, he returned to this place, and 
became a permanent resident. He derived an annual 
income from the estate of his father in England, and 
probably was the most wealthy citizen of the place ; 
and being strictly methodical in his habits, he took 
care to purchase of the constituted authorities, what 
landed estate he needed, probably about the falls. 
He also purchased one or more lots near the fort, where 
the family lived. 

He was a man of the most unbending integrity, and 
always exerted great influence in the community where he 
lived, but was not particularly popular. In his religious 
opinions he sympathized with the Puritans, and was very 
particular in regard to the proper observance of the Sab- 
bath ; and his earnest attempts to discharge every duty as 
an upright magistrate sometimes brought him in collision 
with his neighbors. 

Of the two sons, James and John, the former after 
being in captivity three years, and suffering great hardship, 
made his escape to New Harbor, with another boy who had 
been captured at Casco. Here unfortunately, they were 
both taken prisoners again by the Indians, and returned to 
the Penobscot, where they were tortured to death at the 
stake by a slow fire. 

John, the other son, after ])eing with the Indians 
about six years, was sold to a French gentlemen, who lived 
somewhere on the Penobscot. By this man and his family 
he was treated with much kindness being known among 
them as " Little English." Finally, in the summer of 
1698, a favorable opportunity occurring for him to secure 



154 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

a passage by a trader to Boston, his master voluntarily 
gave him his liberty, and he rejoined his two brothers and 
sisters in Boston, his mother having died several years 
previously. 

As he was about eleven years old, when captured at 
the falls, he was of course now about twenty, with only the 
little education he had received liefore his capture. Hav- 
ing obtained a good knowledge of the Indian language, and 
also the Canadian French, he was often employed by the 
government, as well as the traders, to act as interpreter 
with the Indians. In 1700 he received a commission as 
Lieutenant, and was put under regular pay by the govern- 
ment ; and six years later, he was made Captain. In 1715 
he superintended the erection of the fort at Brunswick 
which was named Fort George. Here he remained ten 
years, being in 1725 transferred to the command of the 
garrison on St. George's river. Subsequently in 1728 he 
was appointed a justice of peace, which in those days was 
considered a hio'h honor. 

Mr. Gyles in 1736 published a verj^ interesting account 
of the capture of Fort Charles, and the attending circum- 
stances, and a narrative of events during his residence with 
the savages. About the same time the o-arrison at the fort 
was considerably reduced, and Mr. Gj^les retired from the 
service. The rest of his life was passed in Salisbury and 
Roxbury. He died in the latter place in 1755, at the age 
of sevent3'-seven. 

The complete destruction of the fort and settlement at 
Pemaquid was considered a great achievement by the In- 
dians ; and they assured M. Thury, on their return, that, 
with two hundred Frenchmen, a little acquainted with the 
country, and ready to follow their lead, they would not 
hesitate to march upon Boston. The same feeling was 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 155 

shown by the French in Nova Scotia and Canada ; and from 
this time hopes began to be entertained by them that they 
might be able utterly to exclude the English from the con- 
tinent, at least as far south as New York and New 
Jersey. 



CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
FORT WILLIAM HENRY. 

1692-1696 — The third fort erected here — Pemaquid the most East- 
ern point in Maine held by the English — The Indians, allies 
of the French — Territory yielded to England by the treaty of 
Breda— Claim by the French— Struggle of three nations for the 
possession of Pemaquid — Sir William Phips — Cotton Math- 
er and others — Phips' connection with the Salem witchcraft- 
First Colonial Governor of Massachusetts — Cannons taken 
from Portland to Pemaquid — Description of Fort William 
Henry — Account of its destruction — A remnant of the 
Penobscot tribe still living — French warships on this coast — 
The fort attacked by three frigates of war in connection with 
two hundred Indians — D'Iberville and Baron Castine in com- 
mand — Summons to surrender — Chubb's answer — Bomb- 
shells used — Large number of cannon balls found — The 
surrender — Chubb and his wife finally killed by the In- 
dians — Valuable information regarding this expedition 
against Pemaquid in copies of French documents deposited in 
the Boston Public Library, and translated by Eev. H. O. 
Thayer. 

'^^HE third fort erected here by the energy and influence 
Vi^ of Sir William Phips, has an interesting record. 

It puzzled me for several years after coming here, to 
understand why a fort so formidable and expensive was re- 
quired, as was this first one, built of stone, "away down 
east." This fortification was designed to declare and to 
maintain the claim and the rights of the English to the 
eastern territory, and also to restrain the Indians from 
encroachment on the western settlements. 

The territory called Acadia, whose western boundary 
was never determined, was passed back and forth between 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 157 

England and France by successive treaties. It had been 
last yielded to France by the treaty of Breda in 1667, and 
the surrender of Fort Charles and its destruction put the 
French into full possession. But the capture of Port 
Royal by Phips and his forces in 1690, brought back the 
eastern country into the hands of the English. To hold 
it securely was a reason for the rebuilding of the fort at 
Pemaquid. 

A noted Frenchman, Baron de Castine, had secured 
the good graces of Madockawando, the chieftain of the 
Penobscot tribe, and had married his daughter. The In- 
dians seem to have been easy converts to the Jesuit's faith 
and were ready allies with the French against the English 
colonists. Long and bloody were the struggles on this 
border land of New England, where the native red man 
strove to hold "his own, his native land " and the white 
man struggled for supremacy and possession till at last the 
English conquered both the French and natives, and made 
vain the former's boast that they would drive them from 
America, although they once held possession of more terri- 
tory than the English did. 

Sir William Phips, our hero and builder of this fort, 
and his contemporary, friend and historian. Cotton Mather, 
like many others connected with the early history of New 
England, deserve more than a passing notice. 

Many noted men of those times were harshly treated 
by their fellow citizens during their lifetime, because as 
oiEcers of the home government at England they were 
sworn to obey and enforce the laws of their rulers, which 
so often conflicted with the interests of the colonists here. 
Impartial writers have recently given us interesting ac- 
counts of- some of those men, Mather, Phips, Andros, and 
others. 



158 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Sir William Phips was the son of James Phips of 
Bristol, England, and is said to have been one of a family 
of twenty-six children. A few quotations from a biograph- 
ical sketch of Sir Wm. Phips written by Mr. Wm. Goold, 
are worthy of note here. Referring to Mather, he says, 
Drake in his life of him says: " Literature owes a vast 
deal to Cotton Mather, especially for his historical and bio- 
graphical w^orks. Were these alone to be struck out of 
existence, it would make a void in these departments of 
literature that would confound many who affect to look 
upon them with contempt." 

The following account will show Phips' connection with 
the Salem witchcraft, and something of his character. 
" When Sir William Phips had well canvassed a cause, 
which perhaps might have puzzled the wisest men on earth 
to have managed without an error, he thought if it would 
be any error at all, it certainly would be safest for him to 
put a stop unto all future prosecutions as far as it lay in 
him to do it. 

" He did so, and for it had the printed acknowledgments 
of the New Englanders who publicly thanked him. The 
Queen sent him autograph letters commending his course. 
A court of oyer and terminer had been selected from the 
Councillors to try the witches. Our journalist, Sewall, 
was a member. They had held two or three sessions be- 
fore the arrival of the charter, and condemned many. 
The question coming up in the Council about its sitting 
again, Sewall represents Governor Phips as saying, " It 
must fall," and that was the last of it. Governor Phips 
finally pardoned all those in the prisons accused of witch- 
craft." 

"After the witchcraft mania had begun to subside, 
Governor Phips turned his attention to the next greatest 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 159 

trouble under which he found the people suffering. That 
was the French and Indian war. We must again consult 
his biographer, Dr. Mather, who says : - Now he was 
come to the government, his mind was very vehemently set 
upon recovering of those parts from the miseries which a 
new and long war of the Indians had brought upon them. 
His birth and youth in the east had rendered him well 
known to the Indians there ; he had hunted and fished 
many a weary day in his childhood v>'ith them ; and when 
those rude salvages had got the story by the end that he had 
found a ship full of money, and was now become all-one-a- 
king ! they were mightily astonished at it ; but when they 
further understood that he was become the Governor of 
New England, it added a further degree of consternation to 
their astonishment. He was likewise better acquainted 
with the situation of these regions than most other men.' " 

On the arrival of Governor Phips at Boston, May 14, 
1692, with the new charter and his commission as Gover- 
nor he " proceeded to erect a strong fort at Pemaquid such 
as had never before been seen in all the region." A bill 
was passed by the legislative assembly, authorizing a tax 
of £30,000 for general purposes. Nearly £20,000 of that 
amount was used in paying for the construction of that 
fort. Having engaged some four hundred and fifty men, 
and such tools and materials as were needed, he sailed from 
Boston in August, having with him. Col. Benj. Church, 
commander of the province forces. On their way they 
stopped at Falmouth (now Portland) and took on board the 
large guns which had lain there since the destruction of 
Fort Loyal, more than two years, and decently buried the 
bones of the slain which lay bleaching upon the ground. 

After coming safely to anchor at Pemaquid Harbor, a 
site for the new fort was selected, covering the same 



160 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

locality as Fort Charles, but extending a little farther west 
so to include the great rock which the Indians had used as 
a defense when they captured the fort three years previous. 
Mather gives the following description of the fort which 
they constructed in the second volume of his " Magnalia," 
page 536. 

Description. 

" Captain Wing, assisted with Captain Bancroft, went 
through the former part of the w^ork ; and the latter part of 
it was finished by Captain March. His Excellency, at- 
tended in this matter, with these w^orthy Captains, did in a 
few months despatch a service for the king, with a pru- 
dence, and industry, and thriftiness, greater than any re- 
ward they ever had for it. The fort, called the William 
Henry, was built of stone, in a quadrangular figure, being 
about seven hundred and thirty-seven foot in compass, 
without the outer walls, and one hundred and eight foot 
square, within the inner ones; twenty-eight ports it had, 
and fourteen (if not eighteen) guns mounted, whereof six 
were eighteen pounders. The wall on the south line, 
fronting to the sea, was twenty-two foot high, and more 
than six foot thick at the ports, which were eight foot from 
the ground. The greater flanker or round tower at the 
western end of this line, was twenty-nine foot high. The 
wall on the east line was twelve foot high, on the north it 
was ten, on the west it was eighteen. It was computed 
that in the whole there were laid above two thousand cart- 
loads of stone. It stood about a score of rods from high 
water mark ; and it had generally, at least sixty men posted 
in it for its defence, w^hich if they were men, might easily 
have maintained it against more than twice six hundred 
assailants." 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 161 

The Destruction of Fort William Henry in 1696. 
Early in the season, plans for the redaction of New 
England were discussed by the French officers at Canada 
and Aca'dia. The Indians began depredations in New 
Hampshire and Western Maine. Peace about Pemaquid 
was due to the presence of the ' ' strongest fastness of the 
British in North America." This fort was a great annoy- 
ance to the Indians because it was directly on their line of 
travel along the sea coast. They would not venture to go 
around Pemaquid Point in their bark canoes, but would 
carry them on their heads across the land from New Harbor 
to Pemaquid Outer Harbor. It was of the utmost import- 
ance to both the French amd Indians that they should gain 
possession of this fort. 

The Indian trail between these two villages has been 
pointed out to me at the highest point of land between 
them, by Mr. Alexander Brackett, who found a fine Indian 
gouge close by it when he dug the cellar for his store. 
(We have it in our collection now.) He told me that he 
owed his life to an Indian doctor of the Penobscot tribe 
who with many others used to follow up the custom of their 
forefathers by crossing over the same trail yearly. They 
passed the whole summer on a trip from Old Town, near 
Bangor, Maine, (where about five hundred still reside) to 
the head waters of the Sheepscot and return. They were 
Catholics and I am told visited a church at Whitefield to 
have their sins pardoned. Beside the Doctors, Mitchel and 
Big Thunder, there were others that made baskets, bows, 
arrows, etc., and sold them to the people in the different 
villages along their route. 

I remember of attending a traveling show given by a 
company of that tribe at New Harbor in which, their war 



162 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

dances, their marriage ceremonies, hideous war-whoops, 
and scalping scenes were most vividly portrayed. A son 
of Dr. Mitchel visited this place last year, having baskets 
and small trinkets to sell. I took him across the bay one 
morning in my little boat to meet the steamer, and he told 
me several stories of Big Thunder and his father. His fam- 
ily made the goods which he was selling. He expressed 
regret that he had not followed the profession of his father, 
who he said became so skilful a physician that he would 
sometimes be called long distances to attend difficult cases 
and would receive as high as eighty and one hundred 
dollars for a single visit. 

The French had two frigates well armed and equipped 
on this shore, named I'Envieux and la Profonde, un- 
der the command of DTberville. They encountered two 
English ships, the Newport and Sorlings, with a small ves- 
sel for a tender, that had been sent east to capture French 
prizes, but the latter proved too strong for them and cap- 
tured the Newport, while the other two escaped by sailing 
out of sight into the fog which fortunately settled down 
over them just in time. After repairing the ships they 
sailed for Castine having taken on board about one hundred 
Indians as an extra crew ; then they found Castine had en- 
gaged the services of two hundred of the Penobscot tribe. 

Another French officer, Villieu, with twenty-five 
French soldiers joined the expedition there, and the three 
ships sailed together for Pemaquid. The two hundred In- 
dian warriors under Castine started in their canoes and 
reached their destination August 13th, and the three ships 
under DTberville the next day. It is believed they took 
their position on the western part of John's Bay, having 
Beaver and John's Island as a partial means of defense. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 163 

At five o'clock p.m. of the 14th, a summons was sent 
to the fort to surrender. Pasco Chubb, the commander, 
sent back word that he would not surrender even " if the 
sea was covered with French vessels, and the land with 
Indian." The fio^htino: then bes^an, but little was accom- 
plished on either side that evening. During the night the 
French landed heavy cannons and mortars, according to the 
best authority at the first small cove a little west of the 
Barbacan and by three o'clock the next day had them in 
position on the high bluff near w^iere the Hotel Edgemere 
is now located. No doul)t the place was then well covered 
with trees which would conceal their movements from 
watchmen on the fort. 

These positions of the ships and battery I think are 
verified by the position of the cannon balls found here. 
I have the evidence of Mr. Calvin C. Bobbins and William 
Erskine that a large number of cannon balls were found 
near the burying-ground year after year, as they were 
ploughed out of the ground. They were carried to the old 
house and barrels of them were finally sold for old junk at 
one-half cent a pound. 

Mr. Allen Lewis and Lyman Curtis, the latter still 
living, have both told me that when boys they were on 
board of vessels called " old junkmen " that used to cruise 
along the shore and sell tinware and calico, as tin peddler 
carts did the same goods by land, taking in exchange old 
rags, iron, rubber, etc. Other shot of the same caliber have 
been found south of the village in the garden of Mr. Frank 
Chad wick. From these two positions named where the shot 
were found (and some have been found recently) we find 
the fort to l)e in range of the positions said to have been 
occupied by the ships and batteries, and learn the distance 
they were fired. Evidently, all these shot were intended 



164 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

for the fort, but the French gunners were either poor 
marksmen, like the Spanish in our kite unpleasantness with 
them ; or they were a long time in getting their true range 
and wasted much ammunition without avail. 

The French after getting their mortars in place began 
throwing bomb-shells at the fort. Doubtless some of them 
landed inside the walls. We have no means of knowing 
how many people were gathered there for protection, driven 
from their homes by fear of the Indians. 

I imagine that they and the soldiers then got the great- 
est surprise of their lives. Here, then, was a new element 
of destruction brought into use I think for the first time in 
the history of warfare in this countr3^ It is certain the 
English had no bomb-proof cov.ers for protection for the 
inmates, only small ones for the powder magazines under 
the Rock and Bastion. Consternation and despair came 
with this new shrieking element of destruction, and it 
seemed that this place of fancied security for themselves 
and little ones had now become a slaughter-pen where they 
were gathered like a helpless flock of sheep to perish en 
masse. 

Just then Castine offered them another chance to save 
their lives by sending a letter into the fort which informed 
them if they surrendered they should l)e transported to a 
place of safety, and receive protection from the savages ; 
but if they were taken by assault they would have to deal 
with the Indians and must expect no quarter, for such were 
the instructions from the king. The History of Bristol 
and Bremen states, that when Hutchinson wrote his history 
of Massachusetts he had the original note of Castine before 
him. When hostilities ceased the terms of surrender 
were agreed upon by the officers of the fort, all marched 
out and were conveyed to one of the adjacent islands for 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 165 

protection from the Indians, and Villieu with sixty French 
soldiers took possession. They found an Indian confined 
with irons in the fort that had been there a prisoner since a 
fight between the men at the fort and Indians on the previ- 
ous February. He was in a miserable condition, having 
sufiered much from his long confinement. 

On learning of his condition the other Indians were 
greatly enraged, and it was fortunate that the English had 
been taken to a place of safety, or they might not have es- 
caped the fury of the savages. Among Chubb's private 
papers was found an order, recently received from the 
Massachusetts authorities, to hang the wretched Indian 
prisoner ; but the French wisely kept the information from 
the natives. 

The conduct of Chubb in thus surrendering the fort so 
readily, was severely condemned by the Massachusetts 
Colony. It was in good condition, had a good bomb-proof 
magazine, partially under the "Great Rock," fifteen 
mounted cannon, a garrison of ninety-two men, and suffi- 
cient supplies for a long siege. Chubb and his men had 
only one excuse for so easily giving up the fort and that 
was to save the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent and 
defenseless people, confined within its walls, by the deadly 
bomb-shell which they could not resist or offset with like 
missiles. 

The cannon and other property of the fort were then 
removed on board the French ships, except the small arms, 
which with much ammunition was distributed among the 
Indians, much to their satisfaction. The fort and every- 
thing about it were destroyed, the walls thrown down as 
far as possible, and on the eighteenth of the month, tliey 
took their departure for the Penobscot. 



166 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Chubb was arrested on his return to Boston and thrown 
into prison. After several months' confinement he was re- 
leased and returned to his family at Andover, Massachu- 
sett, where he and his wife were killed by the Indians, 
February 22, 1698. About thirty of them visited the place 
on purpose to avenge the wrongs they believed he had 
done them. 

The following documents from French sources make 
an instructive supplement to the story of the taking of Fort 
William Henry and are of much importance for comparison 
with the English documents. 



Plan for the Enterprise against Pemaquid. 

If his ]\Iajesty would make entirely sure the possession 
at Acadia, the alliance and fidelity of the savages, and 
would hinder the English from forming and easily execut- 
ing their plans for overrunning that section west of the 
outer St. Lawrence as far as Quebec, it is thought that in 
the present condition of affairs, that end cannot be 

attained except by ruining the fort at P 

situated between the rivers Pentagoet and Kennebec. 
There the greater part and the most warlike of the savages 
of Acadia make their home and have established themselves 
in a kind of villages. 

This foi-t which the English have undertaken to build 
on the land of France, because it is the river Kennebec 
which should make the boundary, and which separates it 
from New England, is situated in a bay over against an 
island which closes the entrance, and which has on the two 
sides a channel for the largest vessels. This fort is about 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 167 

25 fathoms square. The face or curtain, which looks to 
the south and commands the roadstead, is a wall of 8 or 9 
feet in thickness, not terraced more than at the curtains of 
the fort. Upon this wall are twelve pieces of cannon with 
their embrasures, and at the end of it and at the angle 
which looks to the southwest is a great tower of about five 
yards in diameter, which is arched. Upon this are five 
more pieces of cannon which bear upon the sea. Inside of 
the arch is the powder magazine. 

The three other curtains are walls 4 or 5 feet in thick- 
ness and at the angle which looks to the northeast there is 
a little bastion on which there are three pieces of cannon 
which bear upon the land. The two other angles are not 
fortified although approach to them is easy, and they are 
not defended only by that tower and that bastion. The 
lodgings are in sheds along the three curtains that look 
toward the land. There are loopholes in these walls for 
the Musketeers. 

Out from this bay there is a little harbor, in which the 
anchorao:e at a half leao;ue in distance is o:ood for the larijest 

o o o o 

vessels. From this little harbor, where there are twelve 
or fifteen houses scattered and dilapidated, to the 

Fort of P it is only three-quarters of 

league, and there is a cart road fine and new. Sieur de 
Villebon who has reconnoitered the whole, disguised as a 
savage, has recently sent on all the plans of it, and Sieur 
de Bonaventure has brought away with him from Acadia 
two men who have been there several times, and who are 
ready to return with him. Sieur Paquire, the king's engi- 
neer, who was conducted there by Sieur de Villebon in 
1698, has taken the plan of it,|which he sent this time to 
the court. 



168 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Second Document. 

For this expedition it is believed two vessels of war 
will be necessary which certainly can be added without any 
great increase of expense along with what has been sent, 
which his Majesty pleases to grant annually for Quebec and 
Acadia, for the subsistence of the troops which he main- 
tains there The two vessels will go to anchor 

at Mount Desert which is an isle at the entrance to the 
river of Pentagoet where the anchorage is very good and 
sure, and which is only 15 leagues from Fort P. . . . 
The commander will find all the savages assembled at Pen- 
tagoet according to orders which they have received some 
months previoush". 

The commander will send a shallop into the river 
Pentagoet to inform the savages, and then will select 
the officers to command them and to march with them 
at a designated day to a half league of the fort P. 
There they will abide without showing themselves in the 
wood, taking such position that no one whatever can go out 
of the fort without falling into their hands. The com- 
mander will have distributed to them all, food for six days. 

Then the vessels will set sail to go to an anchorage in 
New Harl)or which is the place that has been designated 
as distant only three-quarters of a league from the fort 

of P At this place they will put ashore 

the commander, the officers, the engineers, the soldiers, 
cannoniers, bombardiers, and the light artillery and the 
munitions, as well as those for war as for personal use. 
While his officers and soldiers shall march to invest the 
fort in conjunction with the savages who will join them on 
the way and will lead on the artillery to attack this fort, the 
vessels will sail and come round to anchor in the bay under 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 169 

cover of an island which is only a good quarter of a league 
from the fort, and from whence they can conveniently fur- 
nish food and ammunition needed by the officers, soldiers, 
and savages and at the same time prevent the English frig- 
ates from being able to throw reinforcements into this fort. 
After the capture and demolition of this fort and its 
artillery and the embarkation of officers and soldiers they 
will distribute to the savages all the remaining provisions 
which had been provided for them for this expedition. 
Then having incited them to make incursion into the 
enemy's country, the vessels will weigh anchor to go to 
their destination. 



Third Document. 

Whoever it may l^e who has said that the taking of the 
fort of Pemkuit would protect the French fisheries on the 
shores of Acadia and the river of Quebec and would pre- 
vent those parties which can come to Montreal and Quebec 
from the borders of the English and the Iroquois, — such a 
one is foolish and does not know the country ; but what 
one can say with reason is this ; — that the taking of the 
fort of Pemkuit which very greatly inconveniences the Can- 
ebas and Abenakis, will assure their friendship; and if 
these savages had united with the English it would not 
have been safe to make a settlement in the section south of 
the river of Quebec, and also that those savages form a 
barrier for Canada, which comprises La Cadie (Acadia) and 
extends as far as opposite to Quebec. This is what is true 
and what will always be reasonable to say. 



170 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

Fourth Document. 
Letter of the Minister to Mons. Begon. 

Versailles 22 Feh^ 1696. 
I have written in your absence to Mon^ Manclerc that 
the king has assigned the [war-] ship the "Envious," and 
the store-ship the " Profound" armed for war, for the voy- 
age to Acadia. His Majesty has resolved to make an 
attack on the fort which the English have at the entrance 
to the river of Pemaquid. 

There are needed for this purpose some provisions of 
which you will find a list appended to this, for subsistence 
of the savages which will be employed on this expedition. 
It is needful for you to have them provided. On your 
advising me what they will cost I will have the funds re- 
mitted to you for them. 

Statement of provisions for the reinforcement and for a 
particular service, which will be shipped on the ves- 
sels the " Envious " and the " Profound." 
40 barrels of meal @ 41 10c per quintal 1400 

10 quarters of bacon @ 331 330 

300 lb do of lard @ 8c the p 120 

60 bushels of peas @ 55 c 165 

2 barrels of eau de vie [Brandy] @ 701 140 

300 lb of Brazillian tobacco @ 15c 225 

one barrel of Bordeaux prunes 28 

Total amount for provisions 24081i 

Artillery, Arms, Munitions. 

2 Brass cannon for 121b ball, with their field carriages and 
necessary implements. 

2 Brass mortars of 11 to 12001b with their carriages and 
Implements for the same M. d'lberville has lirought 
back two of them from his expedition. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 171 

400 balls, 200 bombs and the necessary powder for the 

cannon and mortars. 
6001b of gunpowder. 
10001b of lead in balls. 
3000 gun flints. 

300 worm-screws [or gun-worms.] 
50 powder horns. 

50 service saln-es )tli6se two articles will be brought back 
^ . . > to the armory from which they shall be 

20 service guns ^ taken. 

200 light grenades. 

Two campaigning wheels, [wheels for the land] six feet in 

diameter. 
Four pieces of iron [or masses of un wrought iron] weighing 

8, 10, 12, and 151bs. 
30 pick-axes. 
12 picks. 
10 spades. 

20 shovels, iron bound [or tipped.] 
40 medium Swiss axes. 
6 augers. 
3000 assorted nails. 

All which can not be of service, or shall not be fully 
used will be returned to the armory from which they shall 
be taken. 

Fifth Document. 

Instructions to Sieur D'Iberville Commander of the 

King's Ships — " L'Envieux " and the 

'< Profound." 

Versailles, 28 Mars, 1696. 
" If [certain vessels are not on the coast etc.] His 
Majesty thinks it the most advantageous course that he 



172 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

should 2:0 with the " P^nvieux " which he commands and the 
" Profomid" commanded by Sieur de Bonaventure, direct- 
ly to Pentagoet to undertake the execution of the enterprise 
against Pemaquid before their arrival on the coast is known 
in Boston." 

[If at Pemaquid he does not find the savages assem- 
bled nor soon to be, then go to St. John's river first.] 

" After the taking of the fort of Pemaquid and putting 
himself into a state to make defence in case he should be 
attacked there during the little time he will have to stay on 
land, he should go to work without any delay to demolish 
and entirely to destroy the fortifications and generally all 
the vessels of Pemaquid and the vicinity if any are there, 
employing for the purpose all his men that he can and 
especially the savages, in order that this destruction may 
extend to the foundations, by the work of the hand, and by 
fire and mines, and he wil prepare a report and have it 
certified by the officers present. 



Sixth Document. 

Report from M. de Champion y. 

Quebec 25th October, 1696. 

Count Frontenac received at Quebec letters from M. 
Thury Missionary in Acadia, of 25th of May, by which 
he learned what had occurred at Pemaquid fort, between 
the Abenaquis savages and the English. 

There had been a project for an exchange of prisoners 
of which Sieur St. Castine took charge in behalf of M. 
Count Frontenac. No more interested or intelligent an 
agent could be chosen. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 173 

Some Frenchmen had been employed to carry letters 
to the governor of Boston, by which to determine the 
place for the negotiations. But as they could not accom- 
plish it, they were obliged to engage some savages, who 
carried the letter which the English prisoners wrote to the 
officers who commanded Pemaquid fort. 

The officer knew so well how to turn the minds of 
these savages that he persuaded them to come to his fort 
to obtain what would be necessary for them, promising that 
the trade should be carried on in good faith. Taxus, an 
important chief of Abenaquis, first fell into the snare, and 
in spite of the remonstrances of M. Thury who showed the 
difficulties into which their credulity would bring them and 
who separated from them and withdrew into the woods 
with as many as he could draw — was followed by many 
others who all went to the English fort. 

They traded there peacefully several days but at length 
the prophecies of their Missionaries proved true ; the Eng- 
lish seeing these principal chiefs assembled within range 
of the musketry of the fort commenced by killing Edzeri- 
met [Egeremet?] a famous chief and his son by pistol 
shots. Taxus was seized by three soldiers and some others 
likewise, one of which was carried off alive into the fort ; 
two othes got free by using their knives upon the three 
enemies who had each seized them, and it cost the lives of 
four English. One of our savages lost his life by shots 
fired from the fort; another saved Taxus who had also 
killed two enemies with his knife. So this treachery has 
caused us to lose four men and our enemies six. 

Some Abenaquis and other savages of Kennebec sur- 
prised on some islands opposite the fort a detachment from 
the garrison of Pemaquid and killed twenty-three of them. 



174 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

The two ships of the King, the " Envious " and the 
" Profound " with their prize Newport returned at length 
to Pentao;oet where after tradino- with the savao;es and dis- 
tributing the King's presents, they embarked two hundred 
and forty of them ; at the head of which was Sieur St. 
Castine and twenty-five soldiers detached from the company 
of Sieur Villieu with their captain and S. Montigny his 
lieutenant. 

They anchored before Pemaquid on the 10th of Aug- 
ust. S. d'lberville at once summoned the fort to surrender 
which the commander refused to do. Then he landed two 
field guns and two mortars. The batteries were placed in 
a little time and they were satisfied with firing four bombs 
which they threw over beyond the fort. 

Again the summons was made with a declaration to 
give them no quarter, if they did not heed it. They ac- 
cepted the orders of S. d'lberville to go out with their 
clothing only, on condition of being sent to Boston and ex- 
changed for French or savao;es who should come in there as 
prisoners. S. d'lberville took possession of the fort : an 
Abenaquis captured at the same time as Edzrimet had 
been killed. As we have said the garrison consisted of 
ninety-two men without reckoning any women and chil- 
dren . 

There were in this fort fifteen pieces of cannon : the 
guns and other munitions of war were given up to the sav- 
ages to recompense them for the losses which the fort had 
caused them. 

Seventh Document. 

[ From Paris Documents, in Col. History of N. Y.] 

Accounts of provisions and stores for an attack on the 
fort. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 175 

Two months' provisions to be brought for the subsis- 

tance of the Indians estimated at 200 men to be loaded 

equally in the 3 vessels. 

2000 lbs. of flour. 

2 tierces molasses to flavor their sagamite. 

200 lbs. of butter for the same purpose. 

10 bbls. of brandy; without which it will be impossible to 
prevail on them to act efiiciently. 
In order to avoid incumliering the ships, the surplus 

of provisions they may require during two months, can be 

sent for, on their arrival to Minas or Port Royal, where 

they could be procured cheaper than in France, and be 

advanced by the Company's Agent who is in that Country. 
Memorandum of presents for the Indians of Acadia, 

for the sum 364011 which his Majesty grants them in order 

to wage war against the English. 

2000 lbs Powder. 

40 bbls. of Bullets. 

10 " " Swan shot. 

400 lbs. of Brazilian Tobacco. 

200 Tomahawks of which M. de Bona venture will furnish 
the pattern. 

60 selected guns like those of this year. 

200 Mulaix shirts averaging 30s each. 

81bs. of fine vermillion. 

200 tufts of white feathers to be given the Indians in order 

to designate them during the night in case of attack, 

and which will cost at most only six @ 7c ; to be 

selected in Paris by M. de Bonaventure. 

Which presents will be distributed among the Indians 

when they will be all assembled at the rendezvous to be 

indicated to them. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 
FORT FREDERIC. 

1729-1775 — Report of the condition of Forts along the Atlantic sea 
coast in 1700 — Return of settlers to Pemaquid — Complaints 
by the Indians — Trading or truck houses — David Dunbar — 
Plans for a city — Hardships of the first settlers — Stories by 
Capt. Robert Martin and others — A child scalped who sur- 
vived — Mrs. Clark's narrow escape — Cannon taken to Bos- 
ton — Records of Bristol about destroying Fort Frederic — 
A man's parlor made a butcher's shop by the British — State- 
ment of Mr. C. C. Bobbins — The testimony of excavations. 

^^OHNSTON informs us that as early as January 10, 
^y 1700, four years after the destruction of Fort William 
Henry by the French and Indians, the board of trade, by 
order of the king of England, made a report of the condi- 
tions of the several forts in his Majesty's plantations. 
They advised, that for the security of that port and all the 
country round, and to encourage the people to settle there 
as formerly, the fort should be rebuilt at Pemaquid. 

The authorities both of England and at Boston recog- 
nized the necessity of a strong fort at Pemaquid but 
neither wished to incur the expense. Thus for thirty-three 
years the walls of Fort William Henry lay piled in shape- 
less ruin. 

The white settlers who gradually returned to Pema- 
quid after the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, encroached upon 
the lands of the natives. Wars and contention were of 
frequent occurrence. Treaties were made and broken, 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 177 

Gov. Dudley of the Massachusetts Colony visited the ruins 
of Fort William Henry and he with others strove to have 
the fort rebuilt without avail. Conferences were fre- 
quently held between the better classes of whites and 
Indians, showing that the latter were alarmed at the con- 
tinual encroachments of the English, and the evil influence 
they exerted by illegal traiEc in liquor and other articles. 
Complaints were made that the truckmaster at St. George, 
Capt. John Gyles, allowed their young men too much rum 
and had dealt out to them sour meal and damnified tobacco. 
They complained that in one instance the English had 
killed two of their dogs, for only barking at a cow. Their 
request to the English was, "never to let the trading 
houses deal in much rum. It wastes the health of our 
young men, it unfits them to attend prayers. It makes 
them carry ill both to your people and their own brethren. 
This is the mind of our chief men." 

These trading or truck houses, as they were often 
called, were places where the English kept supplies to sell 
on exchange with the Indians for furs and other articles 
they might have to dispose of. 

The British government, having failed in all this time 
to induce the Massachusetts Bay Colony to rebuild the fort 
at Pemaquid, at last resolved to do it. Early in the Spring 
of 1729, David Dunbar arrived here with a royal commis- 
sion as Governor, authorizing him to rebuild the fort. He 
was also appointed surveyor general of the king's woods, 
which required him to protect the timber of this region, 
which was suitable for masts, and other purposes for the 
royal navy. 

After rebuilding the fort he named it Fort Frederic in 
honor of the young prince of Wales, and removed his 
family here. A detachment of thirty men under proper 



178 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

officers was sent here to garrison the fort. Aided by a 
surveyor named Mitchel he laid out magnificent plans for 
a city about the fort, and three townships which he named 
after three English noblemen of the day, Townsend, now 
Boothbay, Harrington and Walpole, now parts of Bristol. 
He invited settlers from all parts of the country promising 
to supply them land on easy terms. 

As an illustration of the hardships endured by some 
of the first settlers here, soon after the fort was rebuilt, 
one William Moore aged seventy-two years, testified, that 
from various causes, " provisions were so scarce among 
them, the only sustenance this deponent could find for 
himself and family was clams and water for several weeks 
together, and he knows not of any of the settlers that were 
not then in the same state, so that when the first child was 
born in the settlement not more than three quarts of meal 
was to be found amongst them all." 

Stories of this last fort built, the many stirring and 
eventful scenes enacted in and about it ; the blood}" tales 
of cruel warfare of which Mrs. M. W. Hackelton wrote in 
her poem entitled "Jamestown of Pemaquid ;" those are 
the tales of adventure ; records of tribulation endured by 
these border settlers in their grim and stubborn struggle 
for a foothold and new homes in this region. The echoes 
of their struggles, though now dying out, still linger with 
us and few people in all the region but have heard the 
stories handed down by tradition about Fort Frederic and 
connected with the settlement here. 

They know well that for many years this fort was the 
haven of refuge and safety, when the wily savage sought 
vengeance on the white man for encroachment on his land. 

I find the name of Moses Young, Keent, James 

Sproul, and Reed, who received lots of land lying on 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 179 

the west bank of the Pemaquid River, opposite the fort. 
They were side by side in the order named, Young's being 
the northern one. Sproul's lot was the same as that occu- 
pied by the late Capt. John Sproul who was his grandson. 
The latter was accustomed to show in his field some 
distance east of his house, the foundations of a stone house, 
erected and occupied by his grandfather ; many of their 
descendants yet reside here. Depredations by the Indians 
always began when war was declared between France and 
England, the Indians not even waiting for a formal declara- 
tion of war ; they often took the inhabitants unawares. 



Stories by Capt. Robert Martin and His Sister 

Miss Margaret. 

During one of these unexpected visits to this vicinity 
by the Indians, they found a mother with her two daugh- 
ters picking berries some ways east of the fort. On'seeing 
them at a distance they all tied for protection, but the 
youngest girl about eleven years old was overtaken, and 
scalped. The others succeeded in reaching the fort. The 
child scalped, was thrown on a pile of rocks connected 
with an outcropping ledge on the east side of McCaffrey's 
Creek about one-third the distance from the head, to the 
old burying-ground. Strange to tell, the child's life was 
saved ; while lying on the rocks her head was in a position 
to receive the direct rays of the sun, which staunched the 
blood and by that means saved her life, and she was 
restored to her friends. This is the third case I have ever 
heard of where a person survived the terrible ordeal of 
being scalped. 

At the foot of Clark's Hill on which the schoolhouse 
now stands, near the house built by Mr. Geo. N. Lewis 



180 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

and now owned by Mr. William C. Parmenter, once stood 
the home of a family named Clark. One day as Mrs. 
Clark was milking her cows, two Indians surprised her, 
grabbing her and holding her fast. When they had drank 
all the milk they wanted they took her by the arms, one on 
each side, and began to lead her up the hill. As they 
were treating her rather roughly, she hung back and indi- 
cated that she would follow them if they would let go of 
her. 

She followed them for some distance gradually drop- 
ping back until she was some ways behind, " while they 
trotted on their tiptoe gate leaning forward " as the captain 
described it. Turning suddenly Mrs. Clark fled for her 
life towards the fort. Perceiving which, one of the In- 
dians raised his gun and fired at her. In those days the 
women wore what was called " loose gowns and petti- 
coats." The fastening of her lower garment gave way and 
tripping over it she fell to the ground, just in time to 
escape the bullet of the Indian, which grazed along her 
back wounding her slightly. She was soon on her feet 
and ofi" again, and the soldiers from the fort came to her 
relief, being warned by the report of the Indian's gun. 

When the French and Indian War closed by the fall of 
Quebec in 1759 the usefulness of the fort was ended, which 
for thirty years had been the haven of refuge, the birth- 
place, the school and home of many of the early settlers. 

At the Rock Cottage we have a fine portrait of Gen. 
William North who was born at this fort in 1755 ; drawn 
and contributed by Mrs. Fannie Hoyt, formerly Ellis, of 
this town, to the Pemaquid Improvement Association. 

I have been told by an old lady that her grandmother 
when a child, learned to write on birch bark while confined 
in this fort from fear of the Indians. Paper and other 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 181 

writing materials, and the many luxuries of to-day were 
not to be obtained from stores as now. 

After a few years of peace, in 1762 the great cannon 
of this fort were carried away to Boston which had out- 
grown Pemaquid, and again began the slow decay of this 
fort, when the people who had used it for protection scat- 
tered away to their homes and different occupations. 

I find l)y the first book of records of the town of 
Bristol that about a month after the battle of Lexington, 
Massachusetts, where the revolution began April 19, 1775, 
that the people here became alarmed for their safety and 
held a town meeting at Capt. John Sproul's house, on May 
24, 1775. The first vote recorded, read as follows; " 1st. 
Voted that we go down to Pemaquid and tear down the old 
fort. 2d. Voted that next Tuesday be the day to do it." 
The settlers had become alarmed by the depredations of 
the British, as their ships came along this shore before 
reaching other parts of New England, and as they consid- 
ered the Yankees rebels they came on shore and helped 
themselves to their cattle, sheep and hogs, to obtain sup- 
plies of fresh meat. 

Two years ago we had a visit from Dr. Perkins ot 
Rockland, Maine, who spent several days in this vicinity to 
locate the home of his great-grandfather Mr. Catlin, 
which he found was on the mainland just west of the 
bridge which joins it to Rutherford's Island. The follow- 
ing story was told him by his aunt. One day a British 
officer appeared there with several soldiers and proceeded 
to take possession of his oxen. Mr. Catlin made objec- 
tions and tried to prevent the loss of his cattle but it was 
of no avail. This pompous British officer said to his men, 
"Take this d — d Yankee rebel's oxen into his parlor and 
kill and dress them there," and it was done. Such 



182 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

treatDient made the people fear that the British would 
take possession of the fort and use it against them, so they 
tore down its walls to prevent it. 

Several of the older people tell me that when they 
were children, the old walls stood above the ground in 
some places eight feet, showing a part of the port holes. 
Then, I have this testimony by Mr. Calvin C. Bobbins, 
still living. " When I was a boy I worked on this farm 
with others for my uncle Samuel Blaisdell, when we had 
no other employment, he made us work on this wall taking 
it down. I have worked on this stone till I wore the 
skin through on my fingers' ends and made them bleed." 
"What did you do with the stone?" I inquired. "We 
had a cart and oxen with us and after prying them off and 
loading them, we hauled them down there," (pointing to 
the river bank) " and dumped them." I suppose a part of 
those there now, 'that literally pave the bank and flats at 
low tide area part of the old fort. Said he, " My uncle 
wanted to have a clear yard and view in front of his house 
and did not care to save the walls as a relic." 

The stone first tumbled down have become covered with 
soil, and the grass having grown over them and the foun- 
dation of the wall, it was difficult to convince strangers 
that even one fort had existed here to say nothing of four. 
Bushes obscured the old Fort Rock, soil and rul)bish the 
castle wall foundations, and we had to dig them out to 
convince people that they still remained in good condition, 
the same foundation built by Phips in 1692, over two 
centuries ago. Some of the mortar they used in the tower 
castle and front wall thus far excavated is a puzzle to 
masons who have examined it. They do not know its 
composition. Said one mason, "It is better than the 
cement we have to-day." 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

NAVAL ENGAGEMENT OFF PEMAQUID. 

The Enterprise and Boxer — Their deadly combat August 6, 1813 — 
Locality — Testimony of witnesses. 

♦fl'N the last war with Great Britain, called the war of 
II 1812, a notable conflict took place on the coast of 
Maine between the U. S. brig Enterprise and the British 
brig Boxer. The locality of this fierce sea fight was be- 
tween Pemaquid Point and Monhegan about midway. I 
spent several days last fall to verify the locality because it 
has been claimed by some writers, that the battle occurred 
further west. With Mr. Alonzo Partridge as assistant, 
and a compass to determine the course, we climbed Salt 
Pond hill which is on the east side of Pemaquid Point. 
On this height many of the people of the town stood to 
watch the battle and hailed with joy the victory of the 
American bris. We found that from our station on the 
hill a southeast course bore directly toward Monhegan and 
over the ocean where the engagement occurred according 
to the testimony of many people. That locality is about 
forty miles east of Portland. 

I have met a fisherman who had in his possession a 
boarding pike of a war vessel brought up by a fish hook 
from that locality. Another presented me with a human 
skull obtained in the same manner. For further evidence I 
visited Rockland where I met a lady, Mrs. Eliza T. Smart, 



184 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

who reached ninety-three years of age in the winter of 
1898 and who was doubtless then the only living wit- 
ness of the conflict. At the time of that war her home was 
upon Matinicus Island and all the family witnessed the 
fight. That island is ten miles east of Monhegan. I was 
able also to search out the " starboard fore-topgallant stud- 
ding sail " of the brig Enterprise having the name stencilled 
upon it and secured a generous piece with the bolt-rope of 
the sail, both being of diflerent material than that in 
common use to-day. 

The British brig lay at anchor in Johns Bay near the 
west shore of the Point when her antagonist hove in 
sight off the Damariscove islands. Her crew at once 
began preparations for the action. A boat's crew of the 
Boxer, as aged people tell, were up in Pemaquid harbor, 
having been sent ashore for a supply of milk from the Old 
Fort house. They were signalled to return when the 
American brio; was seen. The suro-eon and attendants 
were at Monhegan Island where they had been called to 
attend a lad with a broken limb and were unable to get back 
to their vessel. Mr. Elbridge Wallace, a resident here, 
informs me that his grandfather, William Curtis, lay hid 
behind a wood-pile near the shore where the Boxer lay and 
listened to the preparation for the fight and witnessed the 
nailing of the flag to the masthead by which they showed 
their determination not to surrender. He afterwards 
crossed over to the east side of the point to witness the 
engagement. The vessels did not commence action until 
past three o'clock in the afternoon and then the conflict was 
fierce and sharp at close quarters. Both captains were 
killed and many men. According to the testimony of one 
of her seamen, afterwards Captain William Barnes, the 
Boxer's hull was so riddled with shot that had the sea been 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 185 

rough she would have filled before her arrival in Portland 
the next day to which her antagonists took her and where 
both captains were buried. The British officer, when 
ready to stop fighting, shouted through his trumpet his 
surrender as the flag could not be hauled down as is cus- 
tomary by war vessels when defeated. At the rooms of 
the Maine Historical Society in the Public Library of 
Portland may be seen the medicine chest of the Boxer, a 
photograph of a painting of the vessel when in the mer- 
chant service two years later, and also several books giving 
a full description of the engagement. 



CHAPTER XXXL 

THE PEMAQUID IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION. 

^^HE first meeting of this Association was held Oct. 31, 
V^ 1893, at the house of Mrs. Jennie E. Lewis, in the 
room then occupied as a post office. Following are the 
names of those who attended at that time : 
George N. Lewis, Lorenzo D. McLain, 

Henry C. Partridge, Lincoln J. Partridge, 

Albert C. Sprowl, Augustus McLain, 

George D. Tarr, J. Henry Cartland. 

An agreement was drawn up reading as follows : 
We, the undersigned, agree to give the sums set 
against our names to help pay for excavating, preserving 
and restoring the relics, forts and other objects of interest 
at Old Pemaquid. 

The following report was published Jan. 11, 1894, in 
the Pemaquid Messenger. 

First Report of the Pemaquid Improvement 
Association. 

Names of those who have paid one dollar and more, 
and those who have pledged themselves to pay the sum 
set against their names, over that portion of the town thus 
far canvassed; to assist this Association (in connection 
with the Monumental Association), to unearth, preserve 
and restore the ancient landmarks of note, at this place. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 187 

It is but justice to say that I have found the people of 
Bristol, thus far, more interested than I expected to. 
Many who have not felt able to spare the money this 
winter, promise to help the movement along in the spring ; 
some with money and others with labor. All can see that 
if carried on this work will eventually benefit every citizen 
who is interested in the moral or intellectual welfare of our 
town and state. 

This list is published before completing the canvass of 
the town, or either village thoroughly, to show people that 
we are in earnest about this matter, and we trust that every 
citizen of the town and all others interested, will notify 
their friends, wherever located, of this movement and en- 
courage them to send us funds to carry on this work, so 
long neglected. They can well realize that one small 
association, village or town cannot carry this work to per- 
fection, unless others aid us with money. 

J. H. Cartland, Soliciting Agent. 



PEMAQUID BEACH. 



L. D. McLain, 


$1.00 


F. A. Partridge, 


1.00 


H. C. Partridge, 


1.00 


L. J. Partridge, 


1.00 


J. E. Partridge, 


1.00 


G. H. Koberts, 


1.00 


Mellie McLain, 


1.00 


A. D. McLain, 


1.00 


L. D. McLain 


1.50 


A. C. Sproul, 


1.00 


Olando Curtis, 


1.00 


C. M. Kennedy, 


1.00 


Sydney Geyer, 


1.00 



J. H. Gifi'ord, 


$1.50 


J. J. Wallace, 


1.50 


Elbridge Wallace, 


1.50 


W. C. Parmenter, 


1.00 


M. F. Blaisdell, 


1.00 


C. P. Tibbetts, 


1.00 


Mrs. C. P. Tibbetts, 


1.00 


W. G. Tibbetts, 


1.00 


J. P. Thompson, 


1.50 


C. F. Lewis, 


1.00 


Sarah K. Partridge, 


1.00 


Jennie E. Lewis, 


1.00 



$27.50 



188 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 



PEMAQUID FALLS. 



M. W. Poland, $1.00 

C. L. Humphrey, 1.50 

A. J. Dodge, 1.00 
Mrs. Carrie F. Dodge, 1.00 

E. S. Elliott, 1.00 

Mrs. E. S. Elliott, 1.00 

W. S. Brainerd, 1.00 

Mrs. W. S. Brainerd, 1.00 

E. M. Sproul, 1.00 

^y. p. Ford, 1.00 

Mrs. E. M. Williams, 5.00 



F. B. Hill, 


$1.00 


S. C. Bradley, 


1.00 


J. E. Bradley, 


1.00 


Daniel Wheeler, 


1.00 


Gould Fossett, 


1.00 


S. P. Hatch, 


1.00 


W. C. Blaisdell, 


1.00 


Edwin Tukey, 


1.50 


AV. E. Lewis, 


1.00 



$25.00 



A. C. Curtis, 
C. A. Dolliver, 
Mrs. Hulda Burnside, 
C. S. Tarr, 
N. J. Hanna, 
C. T. Poland, 
G. W. Mclntire, 
Joseph Mclntire, 
Owen Mclntire, 
R. E. Mclntire, 
T. L. Mclntire, 
Harvey Richardson, 
M. V. Richardson, 
W. S. Geyer, 
Hiram McFarland, 
John Manning, 
Alexander Thompson, 
C. T. Ellis, 



NEW HARBOR. 

$1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.50 
1.00 
1.00 
3.00 
1.50 
1.50 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.50 



Chas. Lane, 


$1.00 


J. M. Abbott, 


1.50 


W. J. Bradley, 


1.00 


A. M. Miller, 


1.00 


F. P. Munsey, 


1.00 


Mrs. Susan M. Fossett 


,1.00 


Mrs. Mary Sparrow, 


1.00 


Silas Geyer, 


1.50 


F. C. Geyer, 


1.50 


Andrew Cud worth. 


1.00 


Eldorus Fossett, 


1.00 


Elias McFarland, 


1.00 


A. W. Geyer, 


1.00 


T. W. Geyer, 


1.50 


C. W. Sykes, 


1.50 


Aaron Sykes, 


1.50 


Edwin Bradley, 


1.50 



$43.50 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 



189 



BRISTOL MILLS. 



C. C. Bobbins, 
Mrs. C. C. Robbins, 
J. N. Drummond, 
Albert Drummond, 
Edward Drummond, 
A. C. Bradley, 
E. J. Ervine, 



$ 5.00 
2.25 
35.00 
5.00 
5.00 
2.00 
1.00 



SOUTH BRISTOL. 



E. A. Laughton, 
W. S. Erskine, 
J. N. Bryant, 
C. H. Bryant, 
T. L. Little, 



Leander McFarland, $1.00 
Bainbridge McFarland, 1.00 
H. W. McFarland, 1.50 

E. G. Lane, 1.00 

Bert Thorp, 1.00 

Total funds, New Harbor, 
" " Pemaquid Beach, 
" " Pemaquid Falls, 
" " Bristol Mills, 
" " South Bristol, 

Ten Cent Cards sold 



L. F. Foster, 
J. E. Andrews, 
M. E. Thompson, 



$1.00 
2.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 

$61.25 



$1.00 
1.00 
1.00 

$8.50 

$43.50 

27.50 

25.00 

61.25 

8.50 

$165.75 
20.10 

$185.85 

Names of those who have subscribed since the first 
report. Some by solicitation while canvassing the town, 
others by voluntary contributions at the Rock Cottage, up 
to date of this publication. 

SOUTH BRISTOL. 



Frank O. Gilbert, $1.00 

James E. Sykes, 1.00 

M. E. Thompson, 1.00 



William T. Kelsey, 
R. H. Emerson, 



$1.00 
1.00 

$5.00 



190 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 



ROUND POND. 



W. Y. Fossett, $1.00 

Alida M. Poland, 1.00 

Wm. H. Prentice, 2.00 

John E. Hastings, 1.00 

Eugene Tibbetts, 1.00 

Geo. M. Elliott, 1.00 

Roscoe Carter, 1.00 

Mrs. Lucy A. Poland, 1.00 

Mrs. Orin Carter, 1.00 

Mrs. Samuel Loud, 1.00 

Simon Murphy, 1.00 

James N. Clark, 1.00 

Mrs. Nancy D. Hinds, 1.00 

Mrs. W. C. Thompson, 1.00 

Mrs. C. A. Thompson, 1.00 

Mrs. F. C. Thompson, 1.00 

C. L. Magune, 2.00 

J. E. Nichols, 2.00 

Mrs. J. E. Nichols, 1.00 



Mrs. Mary Curtis, 
Norris A. Miller, 
Owen Mclntyre, 
John Palmer, 
George E. Little, 
Walter S. Geyer, 



Miss S. C. Weston, $1.00 
Mrs. S. W. Keene, 1.00 
Mrs. Clara B. Weston, 1.00 
Timothy Weston, 1.00 



John Butman, $1.00 

Mrs. D. R. Morton, 1.00 

S. B. Smith, 1.00 

O. S. Yates, 2.00 

F. C. Hall, 1.00 

E. S. Pope, 1.00 
Adna Orne, 1.00 
Mrs. Selina Leeman, 1.00 
Edwin F. Leeman, 1.00 
Geo. E. Sherman, 1.00 

F. C. Carter, 1.00 
Mrs. R. E. Humphrey, 1.00 
J. S. Laughlin, 1.00 
Mrs. Martin Leeman, 1.00 
H. M. Thompson, 1.00 
Thomas Nichols, 2.00 
Mrs. David Bryant, 1.00 
Fred N. Luce, 1.00 



$42.00 



NEAV HARBOR. 




$1.00 


John W. Dearborn, 


$4.00 


1.00 


Lesley Lewis, 


1.50 


1.00 


Dell Lewis, 


2.50 


1.50 


Norris Richardson, 


1.50 


1.00 
1.50 






$16.50 


BREI 


HEN. 





Mrs. Clara E. Keene, $1.00 
J. W. Bryant, 1.00 



$6.00 







■^ ** 


■ i 








S: . - 


r-f--::^^& 



OLD FORT HOUSE, FORT ROCK, FOUNDATION OF OLD CASTLE WALLS, 
as discovered and dug out by the Peiiiaquid Improvement Association in 1S94. 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 
BRISTOL MILLS. 



Arad Hatch, $ 1.00 

John N. Dmmmond, 25.00 
Robert H. Oram, 1.00 



Frank Oram, 



PEMAQUID FALLS. 



191 



$1.00 
$29.00 



Varney H. Fosse tt, 
Geo. W. Ellis, 


$1.00 
5.00 


A. B. Tukey, 
John Mears, 


$1.00 
1.00 


Mrs. M. M. Ellis, 
Mrs. F. A. Hoyt, 
Mrs. J. S. Hutchins 


1.00 

1.00 

, 1.00 


Jasper N. Fossett, 


2.00 


$14.00 


Lyman Curtis, 


1.00 








WEST BRISTOL. 




Robert A. Sproul, 


$1.00 


Walter S. Pool, 


$1.00 


Wm. M. Clark, 


1.00 


Mrs. A. F. Pool, 


1.00 


Samuel H. Clark, 


1.00 




$6.00 


Olive H. Clark, 


1.00 




PEMAQUIE 


HARBOR. 




Frank G. Penney, 


$2.00 


Charles P. Tibbetts, 


$2.00 


W. G. Tibbetts, 


2.00 


John A. Geyer, 


1.00 


Walter W. Tibbetts, 


1.00 




$8.00 




PEMAQUI] 


D BEACH. 




Sanford K. Seiders, 


$1.00 


Charles A. Sproul, 


$1.00 


A. D. McLain, 


1.00 


Ernest W. Gushing, 


1.00 


Leander McLain, 


1.00 


Ray Crocker, 


1.00 


Leonard B. McLain, 


1.50 


Henry F. Tarr, 


1.00 


Lorenzo D. McLain, 


1.50 


Henry C. Partridge, 


2.00 


Alexander McLain, 


1.50 


James E. Partridge, 


1.00 


Augustus McLain, 


1.50 


Leonard T. McLain, 


5.00 


Dennis G. McLain, 


1.50 




$24.00 


Newell B. McLain, 


1.50 





192 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 





BRISTOL. 




Harvey Richardson, 


$3.00 


J. M. Bryant, 


$1.00 


Charles Russell, 


1.00 


G. A. Holden, 


1.00 


R. H. Oram, 


1.00 
2.00 
1.00 


John A. Hanly, 


1.00 


P. W. Fossett, 
Bradford Redonnett, 


$11.00 



wise ASSET. 



James H. Varney, $1.00 

W. SOMERVILLE, MASS. 

William N. Barstow, $1.00 



DAMARISCOTTA. 



H. E. Hall, 


$2.00 


W. R. McNear, 


$1.00 


W. W. Keene & Son, 


1.00 


Hobart Linton, 


1.00 


J. L. Clifford, 


1.00 


Flint & Stetson, 


1.00 


W. W. Dodge, 


1.00 


G. W. Singer & Co., 


1.00 


Dr. R. C. Chapman, 


1.00 


D. E. Fiske, 


1.00 


M. H. Page, 


1.00 


H. R. Hutchins, 


1.00 


J. F. Perkins, 


1.00 


J. M. Tukey, 


1.00 


J. P. Huston, 


2.00 


Dr. W. H White, 


1.00 


W. K. Hilton, 


1.00 


W. G. Hodgkins, 


1.00 


Isaac Genthner, 


1.00 


Damariscotta Bakery, 


1.00 


R. C. Reed, 


1.00 


Thomas C. Kennedy, 


2.00 


Hilton & Hilton, 


1.00 


Daniel M. Jacobs, 


1.00 


W. G. Knowlton, 


1.00 


Charles Norris, 


1.00 


E. Ross, 


1.00 


Henry A. Sidelinger, 


1.00 


W. H. Parsons, m.d., 


1.00 


S. D. Wyman, 


1.00 


F. D. March, 
D. W. Chapman, 
L. H. Chapman, 


1.00 
1.00 
1.00 


Gilbert E. Gay, 


1.00 




$37.00 



TEN YEAES AT PEMAQUID. 193 



NEWCASTLE. 

A.M. Glidden, $1.00 

Lowell H. Sidelinger, 1.00 



E. S. Harrington, $1.00 



$3.00 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

Charles A. Kidder, Boston, Mass., $1.00 

H. T. Kidder, «« .< 1.00 

George S. Williams, Augusta, Me., 1.00 

Olivia S. Hamlen, *« «« 1.00 

Levi C. Wade, Bath, Me., 1.00 

A. J. Clements, Warren, Me., 1.00 

Sophia Clary, Springfield, Mass., ) ^ ^^ 
Isabel Clary, " " S 

Capt. Walter F. Grinnell, Tiverton, R. I., 1.00 

F. H. McDougall, Boothbay Harbor, Me., 2.00 

Capt. Alfred Race, East Boothbay, Me., 2.00 

B. Vauffhan, Boston, Mass., ) . ^^ 
W. W.Vaughan, " " S 

Wm. G. Fosset, Boston, Mass., 2.00 

J. W. Penney, Mechanic Falls, Me., 1.00 

W. F. Robb, Prop. Chase House, Portland, Me. 1.00 

Dr. E. A. Libby, Portland, Me., 1.00 

Capt. A. Race, Steamer " Enterprise," 2.00 

Capt. Robert Porterfield, N. Y., 25.00 

E. H. Winslow, 2.00 

L. N. Redonnett, Portland, Me., 1.00 

I. A. Macurda, Wiscasset, Me., 1.00 

James M. Tukey, Newcastle, Me., 1.00 

John M. Glidden, " " 5.00 

A. H. Carvil, Somerville, Mass., 1.00 

Proftan H. Burgess, Albany, N. Y., 1.00 

Alden M. Weatherby, WaiTen, 1.00 



194 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

F. O. Purington, Mechanic Falls, $1.00 

Fred L. Merrill, " " 1.00 

F. H. McDonald, <' " 1.00 

E. R. Gammon, " " 1.00 



$66.00 



Amount received as shown by subsequent reports 

since first report to January, 1899, $267.50 

Amount received as shown in first report, 185.85 



Total, $453.35 

The above amount has been expended principally for 
labor and materials connected with the excavations about 
the Old Forts. 

The illustrations accompanying this account will con- 
vey some idea of what has been done. The first shows 
how it looked after over half the bushes and rubbish which 
hid it from view were cleared away. The second shows a 
small part of the foundation of the old castle wall which 
had been hidden by destruction of that above it, by the 
precaution of the citizens at the opening of the Revolution. 
The top of the wall had been tumbled down burying eight 
feet of the foundation. When we began work it was difli- 
cult to convince people that even one fort had been erected 
and destroyed here, to say nothing of four, one of which 
cost nearly £20,000. The next cut shows how it looks 
to-day. The two white towers are constructed of the stone 
which composed the upper part of the castle and has been 
twice built up and twice destroyed. Between these towers 
is a wooden structure which answers for a temporary 
museum where some of the relics discovered are placed on 
exhibition. The very stones used in those towers are of 



TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 195 

historic interest, and have been saved in close proximity to 
the foundations of the old castle so as to be replaced for 
the third time. What more unique or appropriate monu- 
ment could ever be rebuilt here ? It would be a relic of 
colonial days unsurpassed, and to be compared with those 
seen in England and Germany to-day ; a tower of observa- 
tion overlooking the archipelago of Pemaquid, the river, 
bay and ocean with their panoramic view of ships not 
inferior to any along our New England shores. Its walls 
would enclose rooms for a fire-proof museum where show- 
cases can be placed to contain the cannon balls, bomb 
shells and other choice relics which are brought to light 
from beneath the soil of this historic place. Its inner 
walls should be decorated with the artist's canvas covered 
with paintings of the ships of war and peace and the noble 
men that once made old Pemaquid famous. Within its 
walls should be a library, where the scattered records of its 
history might be gathered and preserved, studied and 
enjoyed by the children of our old commonwealth and all 
others interested. Slowly but persistently this small 
organization has carried on the work of gathering history 
and unearthing the buried ruins of this place. We are 
now in need of funds to complete the excavations of the 
front wall which was begun last fall. We will then be 
able to show all visitors indisputable evidence of the solid 
structure built here long ago. We were rewarded by find- 
ing seventeen cannon balls ranging from three and one- 
half to seventeen and three-quarter pounds, and a barrel of 
choice relics near the wall thus far excavated. Our appeal 
is particularly to the natives of old Maine, wherever 
located, who have a pride in her past and present history. 
Here, where civilization began in New England, a monu- 
ment should be erected worthy of our state and nation. 



196 TEN YEARS AT PEMAQUID. 

We now await the financial aid of those who have the wel- 
fare of the risino; o-eneration at heart to assist us, and trust 
our past record of work done here will secure us the aid 
and confidence of those who desire to see this work go on. 
We may then be able to add more laurels to those already 
won by the old Pine Tree State, for being the first place 
where important events transpired in our country, beside 
the first greeting the morning sun. 



ERRATA. 

Page 6, line 2. For "Limekin's Bay " read Linnekin's Bay. 

Page 9, line 31. Insert the between "But" and "tempest." 

Page 11, line 32. Insert has between "island" and "stood." 

Page 13, line 15. For " and" veiid formerly called; insert and Little 

Gem between "Davis' Island" and "formerly." 

Page 28, line 13. For " Wahanada" read Nahanada. 

Page 38, line 11. For "New Haven " read New Harbor. 

Page 163, line 5. For " Indian " read Indians. 

Page 177, line 20. For "on" read or. 

Page 184, line 22. For " informs " read informed. 



sff 



33 W99 



